Dept. Of Commerce News:
- Economic Development Administration’s Build to Scale Program Supports Efforts of 52 Organizations in 36 States
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced today that 52 organizations — including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and entrepreneurship-focused organizations — from 36 states will receive grants totaling $35 million to support entrepreneurship, acceleration of company growth, and increased access to risk capital across regional economies.
Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation is among the awardees.
The grants are made annually under the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Build to Scale (B2S) program (formally known as the Regional Innovation Strategies program).
The 2020 awardees will leverage an additional $44 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources.
“The Trump Administration is proud to support the 52 Build to Scale grant recipients and their tremendous work in the innovation and entrepreneurship space,” Secretary Ross said. “These standout projects will now have the resources to expand their success and build on the advanced environment the Trump Administration is creating for American businesses.”
“Grantees were selected from a competitive pool of more than 600 applications and represent exemplary innovation and entrepreneurship from rural and urban areas across America,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “In addition, projects in federally-designated Opportunity Zones will bring new capital and opportunity to communities that traditionally have been ignored.”
Grantee highlights include Delaware Innovation Space’s addition of the Hard Science Startup Accelerator program, which will provide mentoring, coaching, and training across the full spectrum of the hard science start-up lifecycle; Opportunity Alabama’s bolstering of its Building Alabama’s Localvesting Ecosystem (BuildAL) Initiative in Opportunity Zones; Advance Casper’s plan to catalyze deployment of three tiers of early-stage capital in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs) in the Casper Metro region and throughout Wyoming; and Cleveland Water Alliance’s focus on growing the region’s water economy by providing innovators the ability to conceive of, test, scale up, and demonstrate innovative water technology directly with customers.
This year’s Build to Scale awards will build on regional economies through scalable startups via three competitions: the Venture Challenge, the Capital Challenge, and the new Industry Challenge. The Industry Challenge is in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, which is providing $2 million, and seeks to support entrepreneurship and accelerate company growing within the Blue Economy.
2020 Venture Challenge Grant Recipients
Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation, Los Alamos, New Mexico, $600,000
Baton Rouge Health District, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, $599,385
Baylor University, Waco, Texas, $1.5 million
BioSTL, St. Louis, Missouri, $1.5 million
Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, $1.5 million
Central Maine Growth Council, Waterville, Maine, $599,969
Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, $599,998
Delaware Innovation Space, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, $1.5 million
First Flight Venture Center, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, $1.3 million
Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, $578,884
Halcyon House, Washington, D.C., $1.5 million
Invest Nebraska Corporation, Lincoln, Nebraska, $600,000
Iowa Innovation Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa, $525,472
Maine Center for Enterprise Development, Portland, Maine, $512,556
Massachusetts Technology Development Corp, Boston, Massachusetts, $1 million
mHUB, Chicago, Illinois, $1.3 million
New Orleans BioInnovation Center, Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana, $1.5 million
Patrick Henry Community College, Martinsville, Virginia, $300,474
RI Bio, Providence, Rhode Island, $297,500
Starburst Accelerator, LLC, Los Angeles, California, $1.4 million
Strategic Economic Development Corporation, Salem, Oregon, $469,150
The Roanoke-Blacksburg Innovation Network, Blacksburg, Virginia, $982,443
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, $1.3 million
University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington, Kentucky, $600,000
University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, $594,190
University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, $600,000
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, $600,000
University of Wisconsin – Platteville, Platteville, Wisconsin, $538,426
William Marsh Rice University, Houston, Texas, $1.5 million
2020 Capital Challenge Grant Recipients
Access Ventures, Inc, Louisville, Kentucky, $300,000
BioNexus KC, Kansas City, Missouri, $300,000
Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, Inc., Casper, Wyoming, $176,350
Clean Energy Trust, Chicago, Illinois, $299,703
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), Brunswick, Maine, $300,000
CO.LAB, Chattanooga, Tennessee, $299,651
Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, $300,000
Element 8 (dba E8), Seattle, Washington, $300,000
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, $292,023
EQUITY2 LLC, Kansas City, Missouri, $289,579
Greater Colorado Venture Fund GP, LLC, Telluride, Colorado, $285,000
Opportunity Alabama, Inc., Birmingham, Alabama, $300,000
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, $300,000
Seed Spot, Phoenix, Arizona, $299,396
Slater Technology Fund, Inc., Providence, Rhode Island, $300,000
XLR8X, Honolulu, Hawaii, $300,000
2020 Industry Challenge Grant Recipients
Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Anchorage, Alaska, $599,053
Cleveland Water Alliance, Cleveland, Ohio, $600,000
New England Aquarium Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts, $597,425
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, $599,934
University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, $328,542
University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, $598,152
Washington Maritime Blue, Bothell, Washington, $600,000
EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) administers the Build to Scale program, which is authorized under Section 27 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Act.
About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.
