Advanced Industries Collaborative Infrastructure Grant

The Advanced Industries Collaborative Infrastructure Grant is administered by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade through its Global Business Development division, in partnership with Colorado's advanced industry trade associations and the Economic Development Commission. The program supports collaborative projects intended to create broad, industry-wide impacts across one or more of Colorado's advanced industries. Its goal is to accelerate commercialization and innovation of advanced industry products and services by building infrastructure for the advanced industries ecosystem and aligning private industry with research institutions to create public resources that support advanced industry development in Colorado. The program is not intended to fund the infrastructure needs of an individual business. Eligible projects must develop industry infrastructure necessary to grow at least one Colorado advanced industry and must collaborate with several industry partners, including a nonprofit organization. The technology or project must impact at least one of the following advanced industries: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, bioscience, electronics, energy and natural resources including cleantech, infrastructure engineering, or technology and information. The program prioritizes projects with significant influence on multiple advanced industries, applied research and development, technology development, product or manufacturing facilities, solutions to supply chain gaps, capability growth, support for state recruitment or retention efforts, significant impacts achievable within 12 months, sustainability beyond grant funding, and projects that do not duplicate existing programs or initiatives. Awards generally range from $50,000 to $500,000 per project. A project or technology with a particular application may receive up to $500,000, although the award cap may be lifted for projects that impact more than one advanced industry. If multiple advanced industries are selected, they must correspond to the project's focus, and all selected industries must support the application for the applicant to receive the full requested amount. Applicants must provide non-State matching funding equal to at least two times the requested State grant amount. Eligible matching sources include third-party investors, federal granting organizations, and company revenues. OEDIT funding, other State funding, and in-kind contributions cannot satisfy the match. Dedicated matching funds must ultimately be demonstrated as cash that is traceable and committed to the project. An otherwise eligible applicant may apply without having the dedicated match in place and may receive a conditional award, but the required dedicated match must then be obtained within six months of the award notice or the award is forfeited. Applicants must also identify funding beyond this grant for current and future project operational costs. The grant cannot fund existing programs or operational costs, and total indirect costs associated with grant funding cannot exceed 8 percent of total direct costs. Applicants must be registered with the Colorado Secretary of State and be in Good Standing. Applications are submitted online through the OEDIT application portal. New portal users are manually added, and account activation may take several days. The application includes an Executive Summary providing a single-page overview of the technology and project; organization name and contact information; a Project Summary and Grant Amount section addressing the advanced industry sector, eligibility, commercialization stage, project milestones, grant request, and matching funds; documentation including CVs or resumes for key personnel and business financials; and a Compliance section. Applicants are instructed to customize the Collaborative Infrastructure Grant Milestone Template for the project timeline and the Collaborative Infrastructure Budget Template for the proposal. Matching-fund documentation may include a commitment letter or award letter. If matching funds have not yet been secured, the applicant must provide the expected timeline. Optional materials include support letters or recommendations from business advisors, industry partners, customers, or other relevant stakeholders and other files relevant to evaluation. Scored application sections include Preferences, worth 25 points; Project Team, worth 12.5 points; Industry Engagement, worth 12.5 points; Statewide and Regional Impacts, worth 25 points; and Sustainability, worth 25 points. Scored sections are evaluated on a 0-to-5 scale ranging from Nothing Provided to Excellent. Applications first undergo an internal compliance review for eligibility and completeness. Eligible and complete applications proceed to independent review using a structured scoring system, followed by multidisciplinary committee review meetings to identify the most competitive applications. Applications recommended for funding are then presented to the Colorado Economic Development Commission for final approval. The overall review process typically takes 10 to 12 weeks, and Advanced Industries Grant staff communicate relevant dates after the application deadline. Incomplete applications may be rejected. Rejected applications may be revised and resubmitted during the next grant cycle; there is no appeals process, although applicants may request feedback as directed in the decline notice. The application is currently closed and is explicitly scheduled to open February 1, 2027. The source states that applications open once a year from February to April, establishing an annual recurring cycle, although another overview statement describes the application period as February to March and no exact 2027 closing date is provided. Once approved, recipients must execute a formal grant agreement with OEDIT before obligating or spending grant funds. This is a reimbursement grant, and project milestones and budgets are established in the agreement. Matching funds may begin to be spent after award notification, but grant funds cannot be spent until the agreement has received final signature by the State Controller or designee. Unused grant funds must be returned. Both grant and matching expenditures must comply with the approved project budget. The program is intended to support businesses actively pursuing commercial development and manufacture of products or technologies within Colorado. If a company supported by a Collaborative Infrastructure Grant relocates or moves outside Colorado within 24 months after the conclusion of the grant, it may be required to reimburse the full award over a period of no more than 60 months. For this provision, a company is considered to have moved operations outside Colorado if it does not have headquarters in Colorado or if less than 50 percent of its employees reside in Colorado. The named program contact is Rama Haris, Advanced Industries Senior Manager, at 303-824-9768. The source also provides the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade general contact email, oedit.info@state.co.us, and agency phone number, 303-892-3840.

Emphasize significant influence across multiple advanced industries where applicable; align selected industries directly with the project's focus; demonstrate applied R&D, technology development, product or manufacturing infrastructure, or supply-chain capability growth; show direct support for Colorado recruitment or retention where applicable; demonstrate ability to deploy funds and create significant impacts within 12 months; establish sustainability beyond grant funding; avoid duplicating existing programs or initiatives; secure the required match by application submission when possible; ensure all required materials are complete because incomplete applications may be rejected.