Grant funding to support Innosphere, CSU workforce-development effort

FORT COLLINS — Technology incubator Innosphere Ventures has been awarded a $1.4 million grant from Opportunity Now Colorado, a regional workforce initiative, “to work with Colorado State University and regional employers to address regional workforce gaps in systems engineering,” according to an Innosphere news release.

The organization’s workforce effort will be conducted as part of the Colorado-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine, a National Science Foundation-supported clean-tech initiative. 

“The CO-WY Engine has identified systems engineering as a workforce gap area, and this funding will advance workforce development through internships and apprenticeships,” Innosphere and CO-WY Engine CEO Mike Freeman said in the release. “This funding will make it possible to address the critical shortage of systems engineers in our region.”

CSU “will play a key leadership role in this workforce project,” according to the release.

The university “is very excited to be able to work with Innosphere Ventures to help connect Colorado’s workforce to training, new skills, and new jobs among our aerospace, energy and climate industry partners,” CSU systems engineering professor and department head Thomas Bradley said in the release. “We’re ready to cultivate a new generation of systems engineers equipped to meet the demands of our rapidly evolving climate technology sector and broader STEM fields.”