Impacting South Dakota’s Economy Through the Science & Innovation Strategic Plan

South Dakota’s citizens, schools, businesses, educational institutions, governmental entities, and other stakeholders recognize that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research, an educated and skilled workforce, and an entrepreneurial business environment underpin competitiveness in the global economy.

If South Dakota is to effectively integrate a robust science and technology (S&T) strategy into the broader state economic development enterprise, the process of developing that strategy must be inclusive of all stakeholders: citizens, industry, post-secondary education, K-12 education, economic development organizations and state government.

SD EPSCoR’s mission is to strengthen research and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) across South Dakota to increase science literacy and drive science-based economic development. It is a partnership of the state’s public, private and tribal higher education communities, K-12 education, the state government, and the private sector.

The South Dakota REACH Committee updated the Science and Innovation Strategic Plan for the State of South Dakota in late 2021 and early 2022. This plan guides the selection of the NSF EPSCoR Track-1 proposals, as well as other state initiatives including Research Center and Board of Regents research program funding. The South Dakota Science and Innovation Strategic Plan published in April 2022 was the result of this effort.

The South Dakota Science and Innovation Strategic Plan proposes seven South Dakota-specific initiatives that will build the solid base of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge and infrastructure needed to support and grow target industry sectors over the next several decades.