The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced its 2016 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program. The RIS program is a competition designed to “spur innovation capacity-building” across the United States, according to the EDA official website. The 25 winners of the 2015 competition were awarded $10 Million among them.
RIS awards take the form of grants from two competitions. The i6 Challenge is part of the Startup America initiative, and awards up to $2.5 million to projects that serve rural areas. Seed Fund Support Grants provide funding for technical assistance to support seed funds that offer capital to startup companies in exchange for equity. These funds must consider job creation before issuing capital. Both awards require winners to create values specific outreach plans to communities underrepresented in innovation and entrepreneurship and specific metrics to measure the effectiveness of their programs.
Representatives from the EDA Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship will host a free webinar for 2016’s $15 Million competition. They’ll provide an overview of the program, a discussion on recent awards, and tips on building a competitive proposal. The webinar will take place on Thursday, March 10, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET. Register here.
