Joint Research Alliance: Innovative Materials and Processing for Advanced Critical Technologies (IMPACT)

The IMPACT Alliance

The United States is at a pivotal moment to translate research into global industrial leadership by demonstrating, at scale, the technologies that will secure critical mineral supply chains, strengthen manufacturing competitiveness, and power the next generation of American industry.

The Joint Research Alliance for Innovative Materials and Processing for Advanced Critical Technologies (IMPACT) is a national collaboration designed to accelerate the transition from research to real-world industrial deployment.

Led by the Natural Resources Research Institute, a state-chartered applied research institute of the University of Minnesota, hosted by the Duluth campus, in partnership with the National Laboratory for the Rockies, IMPACT brings together place-based demonstration environments and national laboratory research capabilities to strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and critical material supply chains.

Why IMPACT

The United States faces growing pressure to secure domestic supply chains, modernize industrial systems, and deploy new technologies at scale. IMPACT exists to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial reality by providing environments where new materials, processes, and energy systems can be tested, validated, and advanced toward deployment.

What We Do

Through demonstration at scale, IMPACT aims to strengthen U.S. industrial innovation by:

Translating DOE-funded research into scalable technologies for globally competitive American industry
Strengthening domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials
Integrating novel resource processing and impact management, energy and water conservation, and advanced materials manufacturing
Accelerating energy systems innovations in generation, storage, and delivery
Engaging communities and supporting a future-ready workforce

A National Demonstration Platform

IMPACT integrates semi-industrial testbeds, lab-to-pilot facilities, high-performance computing, and predictive modeling to accelerate discovery-to-deployment. NRRI’s Duluth and Coleraine campuses and the National Laboratory for the Rockies’ Golden campus operate as a connected system, enabling industry-relevant testing at meaningful scale.

IMPACT also supports future-ready workforce development and strengthens community-connected innovation ecosystems that enable industrial transformation.

Part of a Broader Transformation Effort

IMPACT is a joint research alliance driving partnerships to advance the Midwest Industrial Transformation Initiative (MITI), a framework for aligning regional industrial assets with national priorities for competitiveness, resilience, and workforce readiness.