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In the News

JEDC's SpringBoard Program Facilitates a Cooperative R&D Agreement with Ft. Knox

The Juneau Economic Development Council (JEDC), through their national SpringBoard Program, has facilitated a cooperative research and development agreement between the Environmental Laboratory at the US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS and the Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks.

The purpose of the agreement will be to further develop applications in Alaska for an award-winning biopolymer patented by the lab that has been shown to greatly increase the germination and growth rates of some plant species.

Faced with a particularly short growing season, this biopolymer could be advantageous to Alaska's mines, improving their reclamation efforts by germinating seeds and establishing plants more quickly.

In the first phase of the agreement, the lab will obtain a sample of the seed mixture that the Fort Knox Mine uses for revegetation. If the plants respond well, a second phase may be conducted in which the seeds are coated with the biopolymer for a side-by-side field test.

JEDC recently facilitated a similar agreement for the same biopolymer with a nursery in central New Mexico.

As a partner of the US Department of Defense, SpringBoard's purpose is to develop partnerships that result in transfer, commercialization and transition of technologies developed by DoD laboratories and private industry; and support and facilitate K-16 educational programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

For more information, contact Zach Wilkinson at 523-2329, zwilkinson@jedc.org.