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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Alabama EPSCoR recently announced a significant update of the Alabama Science and Technology Plan (S&T Plan) developed in collaboration with RTI International, an independent scientific research institute. The S&T Plan is revised every five years to reflect current industry, workforce, research, and technology commercialization conditions while highlighting opportunities for growth. It was approved and adopted by the Alabama EPSCoR Steering Committee on June 29, 2026.
RTI provided its expertise in technology-based economic development and data-driven benchmarking and trend analysis to the strategic plan development.
“Alabama has been tremendously successful in increasing its total research activity which now exceeds $9 billion a year, on par with Tennessee, and gaining on Georgia,” notes Jennifer Ozawa, RTI Senior Economist. “Growth in Alabama’s R&D-intensive industries and STEM jobs have outpaced growth in total private sector jobs over the past 5 years. The 2030 S&T Plan aims to maintain this momentum by identifying initiatives to advance STEM education, research, and innovation activity.”
The 2030 S&T Plan identifies six high-priority research areas that align with federal research priorities and industry needs. These areas build on existing strengths of Alabama’s industrial base and eight public academic research institutions. They are:
- AI and quantum computing
- Biotechnology and biomedical sciences
- Materials and manufacturing science
- Robotics, autonomy, and automation
- Space and unmanned vehicles
- Agriculture, forestry, fishers, water systems, and coastal resilience
“Ten to 20 years ago, Alabama was very similar to surrounding states. But increasingly those states don’t have the new technologies and high-tech industries flooding in that Alabama does," said Christopher Lawson, Ph.D., executive director of Alabama EPSCoR and a professor of physics at UAB. "There is a case to be made that we’re going to be on another level entirely in five to 10 years. This plan will help us get there.”
The plan fulfills a requirement of the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which supports states with lower than the average amount of federal research funding. The plan was developed with input from state government, innovation and economic development, and research university stakeholders.
Read the Alabama Science and Technology Plan: Vision 2030
Learn more about RTI's economic development expertise
RTI International is an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world’s most challenging problems.
For more information, visit www.rti.org.
