Dashboard and timeline

K-State has committed to bringing 3,000 new jobs and $3 billion in direct investment in the state by 2029. Take a look at the progress so far.

 

The charge

June 2020

  • Kansas Board of Regents charged all KBOR institutions developing and implementing a plan to bring jobs and direct investment into the state of Kansas.

Conception

2020-2021

  • K-State identified four areas of expertise that align with statewide and regional priorities and that would allow the university to engage and attract industry to locate and invest in the state.
  • A multi-unit group was formed — K-State, K-State Innovation Partners, and the KSU Foundation — to develop the metrics, outcomes and deliverables.
  • The plan was presented to KBOR with the promise to add 3,000 jobs and $3 billion in direct investment to the Kansas economy by 2029.

Execution

2022

  • Focus area task forces were formed to make recommendations to university leadership on priority areas for action and the best path for success.
  • March:
    • HydroGraph Inc. announced it will be locating a new facility in Manhattan.
  • April:
    • Scorpion Biological Services Inc. announced it will be building a 500,000-square-foot biodefense-focused large molecule and biologics biomanufacturing facility in Manhattan.
  • Other major awards:
    • $1.3M from USDA for NIFA CAP: "Leveraging high-throughput genotyping and phenotyping technologies to accelerate wheat improvement and mitigate the impacts of climate change technologies to accelerate wheat improvement"
    • $3M from USAID for The Management Entity of the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab
    • $1M from USAID for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of PostHarvest Loss
    • $1.5M from USAID for Rapid Development of Climate Resilient Wheat Varieties for South Asia Using Genomic Selection
    • $1.5M from USDA for "Novel sanitation approaches to control Listeria biofilms in the organic produce industry"
    • $1.3M from KDHE for Kansas Watershed Specialists SFY23
    • $1M from USDA for "Using vulnerability analysis to guide woody plant control outreach efforts in support of maintaining and improving NRCS's Kansas Great Plains Grassland Initiative-identified core grasslands in Kansas"
    • $1.9M from DOE for "B5: Bigger Better Brassicaceae Biofuels and Bioproducts"
    • $1.5M from NSF for RII Track-2 FEC: "BioWRAP (Bioplastics With Regenerative Agricultural Properties): Spray-on bioplastics with growth synchronous decomposition and water, nutrient, and agrochemical management for enhanced field crop production"
    • $2M from US DOC EDA for the TDI Digital Manufacturing Technology Program
    • $2M from EPA for Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities Cooperative Agreement
    • $2.3M from NIH for the Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
    • $1.5M from DHS for "Food, Agriculture & Veterinary Resiliency Effort to Enhance the Readiness of the Food and Agriculture Sector"
2023

Future

  • We anticipate future announcements of new partnerships, new funding/investments, new university-industry research activity, new capital projects and new initiatives that support, enable and animate K-State's bold Economic Prosperity Plan.