NDSU, UND, and NDUS to join "regional technology and innovation alliance"

(Fargo, ND) -- The North Dakota University System, NDSU, and UND are partnering with the Montana University System and 11 colleges and universities from a five-state region to create a regional technology and innovation alliance.

The Mountains and Plains University Innovation Alliance will leverage existing research, education, and training programs to boost the collective ability to attract and support the expansion of high-tech innovation and industry in the region. The Alliance will also partner with tribal nations, state governments, and industry leadership to develop and enact a regional agenda to ensure the 5-state region will play a central role building the technologies of the next century.

“This is a paradigm shift for research and especially innovations related to digital technology,” said North Dakota University System (NDUS) Chancellor Mark Hagerott. “It will help diversify the region and economy by achieving scale in a way that the individual states might not achieve acting alone.”

NDUS said in a release the five-state partnership will work to expand opportunities in a variety of fields; including autonomous systems, quantum computing, forest and rangeland management, cybersecurity, predictive and precision agriculture, and other fields of study. 

“We are proud to be partners in creating the technological solutions that our country needs now and into the future,” said David Cook, president of North Dakota State University. “Our state has already benefited from the relationships of this alliance through the new NDSU-led National Science Foundation Great Plains I-Corps Hub, which will train entrepreneurs to take research ideas to market."

You can learn more about The Mountains and Plains University Innovation Alliance by clicking here.