Innovation Engine serves the Metals Innovation Initiative with fractional leadership as it scales its model. Starting in Fall 2021, Innovation Engine co-founders Vijay and Sam worked with a large set of collaborators to apply what they learned from the formation of AccelerateKY to one particular comparative advantage industry for Kentucky, the primary metals manufacturing sector. When the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development expressed interest in getting an industry cluster organization together focused on the metals industry, Vijay and Sam built on what they had learned through their work with the MIT REAP program to draft a white paper that imagined what a metals industry-focused innovation ecosystem support organization would look like. Utilizing the RPM model, Vijay and Sam took that white paper to one company and some ecosystem partners, then to several companies, and–in less than a year–turned that whitepaper into a formed nonprofit with seven member companies and a starting seven-figure budget. In its first two years, we applied the “Innovation Experience” model and achieved several big wins–a first-of-its kind Kentucky Metals Guide in partnership with the state government; a new manufacturing-sector focused Kentucky Industry Conference; a series of pilots and studies on clean energy supply for Kentucky’s metals industry; a range of pilots to support the sustainable development of Kentucky’s metals workforce; and a federal prize from the U.S. Department of Energy for our early-stage sustainability and workforce innovation pilots.