NSF backs $160 million NEO-SMART Engine to remake Northeast Ohio manufacturing

A Case Western Reserve University–led coalition has won a slot in the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program, positioning Northeast Ohio as a federally backed testbed for advanced manufacturing over the next decade.

Branded the NEO-SMART Engine, the effort brings more than 70 partners across industry, higher education, economic development, philanthropy and government into a single, long-horizon play for manufacturing innovation and jobs.

By the numbers

• $160 million: Potential NSF funding over 10 years, contingent on performance milestones.
• $7.5 million: Annual federal allocation in each of the first two years.
• $120 million: Capital already committed by NEO-SMART partners for the initial two-year phase.
• $500 million+: Combined public, private and philanthropic investment the coalition is targeting as the initiative scales.

The strategy

NEO-SMART—short for Northeast Ohio Strengthening Manufacturing for American Resilience through Technology—aims to wire AI, automation and robotics into the region’s legacy strengths in metals, polymers, chemicals and coatings.

Over 10 years, the coalition is targeting:

• Jobs: Create or retain 20,000 jobs across an 18-county footprint, including 12,000 workers trained through updated materials and manufacturing programs at regional colleges and universities.
• Supply chains: Reinforce domestic manufacturing capacity in automotive, aerospace, defense and medical devices.
• R&D: Lift corporate research and development spending by 50% and support 150 dedicated R&D projects.
• Lab-to-market: Support 1,000 ventures and provide more than 250 seed investments to commercialize research into new products and companies.

In practice, that could mean polymer and coatings leaders in Greater Akron and Cleveland using AI-assisted materials design and smarter factory automation to shorten product cycles and tighten quality for global customers.

The coalition

The Engine’s footprint stretches from Greater Cleveland to Akron, Canton, Lorain County and Youngstown, reflecting a deliberate attempt to knit together historically fragmented industrial centers into a single advanced manufacturing platform.

NEO-SMART was selected from more than 300 concepts nationwide as one of only 12 NSF Engines in this funding round—and the only awardee in Ohio—giving the region a marquee role in a program built to seed durable innovation clusters.

What they’re saying

• Gov. Mike DeWine: “When federal dollars come to our state to strengthen manufacturing and build up our workforce, every Ohioan benefits—and I am grateful for the extensive partnership effort that made this award possible.”
• Case Western Reserve President Eric Kaler: “The manufacturing challenges of the next decade will be solved by academic researchers, industry partners and factory floor teams who work in collaboration to turn scientific insight into commercial reality.”
• Greater Cleveland Partnership CEO Baiju Shah: “Greater Cleveland does not just want to participate in the next era of American manufacturing—we intend to create and lead it.”
• Lubrizol Chief Technology Officer Julie Edgar: “We compete globally every day, and the depth of technical and scientific talent in this region helps us continue to compete and grow. We must actively develop the next generation of chemists, engineers and advanced manufacturing technicians—this funding creates the opportunity to do that at scale.”
• JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef: "Unshakable, collaborative partnerships are an important reason Ohio was named the top state for business, and when there is investment in innovation, Ohio's leadership in these industries will only accelerate."