U.S. Commerce Department Grants $10 Million to Advance Innovation

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has announced the first 26 recipients of the 2014 Regional Innovation Strategies program grants. The Regional Innovation Strategies program, which is being run by the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), is a new initiative designed to advance innovation and capacity-building activities across the country through three different types of grants: i6 Challenge grants, Cluster Grants for Seed Capital Funds, and Science and Research Park Development grants.

Pritzker announced the recipients of the first two funding opportunities. Recipients of the third grant will be announced in the coming weeks. i6 Challenge grant awardees:

• Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y. ; $399,585 for the Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center at Albany Medical College
• BioAccel, Phoenix, Ariz.; $499,764 for the Southwest Proof of Concept Commercialization Center
• BioSTL, St. Louis, Mo.; $500,000 for Advancing regional prosperity in St. Louis by accelerating the transition of bioscience innovation
• City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.; $474,453 for Startup in Residence
• Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; $500,000 for The Southern Tier Innovation Hot Spot
• Curators of the University of Missouri on behalf of UMKC, Kansas City, Mo.; $500,000 for the Digital Sandbox KC: Expanding Kansas City's Proof-of-Concept Center
• Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, Ga.; $500,000 to Provide education, support and programs to develop the entrepreneurial community in Georgia
• Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La.; $499,959 for the I 20 Corridor Maker Space Innovation Network
• Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), Columbia, Md.; $499,822 for the mdSTEPP Program
• Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute, Butte, Mont.; $148,600 for the Manufacturing Consortium of Montana Mansfield Prototyping Center
• New Orleans BioInnovation Center Inc., New Orleans, La.; $500,00 for the Louisiana Life Sciences Technology Commercialization Center
• Ohio Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Center Inc., Lima, Ohio; $449,950 for the Development of High Strain Rate Metal Forming Commercialization Center
• The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn.; $500,000 for TechCelerator: Catalyzing a Regional Innovation Strategy to Accelerate New Company Formations through Technology Commercialization
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.; $499,826 for Technology Commercialization Carolina (TCC)
• University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska; $499,064 for the Alaska Center for Microgrid Technologies Commercialization
• University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.; $500,000 for the Maker Spaces I-Corps Proof of Concept Center
• University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla.; $500,000 for the FirstWaVE Venture Center Program Expansion

Cluster Grant for Seed Capital Funds Grant awardees:

• Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y.; $124,910 for the Biomedical Acceleration & Commercialization Center at Albany Medical College (BACC) SEED Fund
• Milwaukee Water Council Inc., Milwaukee, Wisc.; $71,625 for the Wisconsin Water Cluster Seed Capital Fund Grant
• Clean Energy Trust, Chicago, Ill.; $250,000 for the Clean Energy Prize Fund
• Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Phoenix, Ariz.; $221,467 for the Greater Phoenix Seed Fund Feasibility Study
• Quatere, Salt Lake City, Utah; $250,000 for the creation and implementation of Next Generation Early Stage Umbrella Fund
• Regional Development Corporation, Espanola, N.M.; $248,946 for the Venture Acceleration Fund Enhancement Project N.M.
• Technology 2020, Oak Ridge, Tenn.; $250,000 for TennesSeed
• University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.; $249,933 for the StarterCorps Seed Fund
• University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.; $250,000 for the Cluster Grants for Seed Funds in North Dakota