Is NGTEN exclusive?

Not at all!

It is very important to note that a number of states have similar, well-established, highly successful initiatives, (e.g. member states of the national Rural Geospatial Innovations Consortium). Generally speaking, the only distinguishing factor is that NGTEN participants all are specifically tasked with joining the missions of NASA, USDA and NOAA through some state-defined combination of Space, Land and Sea Grant. This tie to federal agency research and development is created and maintained by the GES (and not by a directive or initiative from a respective agency). Thus any state with a similar program that incorporates this fundamental federal agency link in their mission and partners with some combination of Space, Land and Sea Grant would be welcome.