A coalition of Colorado companies and organizations is a finalist for up to $100 million of the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge by the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Dubbed the Colorado Coalition, the partnership is led by Innosphere Ventures, a Fort Collins-based science and technology startup incubator.

The coalition is made up of “organizations from the government, business, acadamia and nonprofit” worlds, according to a release. It earned a $500,000 grant to develop plans for eight projects supporting the cleantech and bioscience industries in Colorado.

The coalition now moves to phase two of the challenge, due by March 15, for up to $100 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds.

“We will leverage our nationally recognized innovation assets to build a world-class ecosystem for our region’s (research and development)-intensive growth industries,” Mike Freeman, CEO of Innosphere Ventures, said in a statement. “These growth industries will be a leader in creating equitable growth across our region.”

The organizations that make up the Colorado Coalition include the state of Colorado; National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Colorado BioScience Association; Colorado Cleantech Industries Association; the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation; the cities of Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins; Jefferson County; Colorado School of Mines, University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

“Colorado has a real opportunity to advance and lead in bioscience and cleantech — not just in the state, but nationally and internationally,” said J. J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. “The Colorado Coalition is demonstrating our state’s proven track record of coming together to address the needs of our workforce and grow our economy for all Coloradans.”

The challenge is described as “assisting communities nationwide in their local efforts to build back better by accelerating the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building economies that will be resilient to future economic shocks,” according to the release. “The Challenge is the largest economic development initiative from the U.S. Department of Commerce in decades.”

Freeman said: “The Colorado Coalition proposed a total of eight projects within our Phase I proposal that are critical to the U.S. competitiveness in biosciences and cleantech. With our six construction and two non-construction projects, our proposal will propel the Colorado Front Range to higher economic performance and equitable growth.”