STEM Talent Challenge
The STEM Talent Challenge is a national competition that first began in 2020. It is designed to further those programs that support training science, technology, engineering, and math talent in order to fuel regional innovation economies. Funding is not available to continue support for this program and no further competitions are planned. This change has no impact on current awards.
The U.S Economic Development Administration’s STEM Talent Challenge aims to build STEM talent training systems to strengthen regional innovation economies. In 2023, the program awarded 11 grants totaling $4.5 million to organizations that are creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their region’s innovation economy.
Projects aim to identify opportunities in high-growth potential sectors, and to expand and empower the innovation economy workforce, including by:
- Engaging regional entrepreneurs, innovators, and the organizations that support them to assess and forecast current and future talent needs and to develop collaborative solutions with work-based programs;
- Building highly skilled talent and connecting it to highly technical opportunities that foster professional development and provide continuing advanced skills training to develop the technical and scientific workforce that regional innovation initiatives need;
- Strengthening collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry leaders and employers, educational organizations, established corporations, economic and/or workforce development organizations, and the public sector to enable better access to skilled workers and to develop demand-driven workforce pipelines for the innovation economy; and
- Placing new employees into immediate job openings with regional employers in need of STEM talent.
View the FY23 STEM Challenge grantees here.
The STEM Talent Challenge is authorized under Section 28 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. § 3723).
Applicant Resources
- FY23 STEM Talent Challenge NOFO (PDF)
- BLOG: $4.5 Million STEM Talent Challenge Funding Opportunity Launched to Build a Robust STEM Workforce for Emerging and Transformative Innovation Sectors
- Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
- Project Service Area and FIPS Code Template (XLSX)
- Budget Narrative and Staffing Plan Template (XLSX)