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Obama Administration Announces $33M Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge
The Obama administration announced a Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) for a new $33 million public-private initiative focused on supporting and accelerating the growth of regional innovation clusters (RICs) that exhibit high-growth development potential — the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge. The Obama administration intends for these investments to serve as catalysts for leveraging private capital (e.g., foundations, financial institutions, corporations and other partners) in the selected regions.
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) in partnership with Employment Training Administration (ETA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) will provide the direct funding and technical assistance to support customized solutions for each awardee. Thirteen additional partner agencies and bureaus (e.g., Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy) also intend to provide customized technical assistance.
EDA anticipates 20 awards (individual awards range between $1.0 million to $2.2 million) will be made through a nationwide competitive process that includes all industry sectors. Applications are invited from clusters in both urban and rural regions. Prospective applications eligible for this FFO include:
- District Organizations;
- States, cities or other political subdivisions of a State;
- Institutions of higher education or a consortium of institutions of higher education; or,
- Public or private nonprofit organizations or associations.
Awardees also are required to demonstrate a "matching share" from non-federal sources that must be available and committed to the project.
On June 7, 2011, from 3:30PM till 5:00PM ET, EDA will host a webinar for prospective applications. Representatives from the EDA, the ETA and the SBA will provide an overview of the challenge and be available to answer questions from the audience. Register for the webinar...
Prospective Applications must submit both a letter of intent and application to be eligible for funding. Letters of intent are due June 10, 2011; applications are due July 7, 2011. For more information regarding the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge visit the Challenge website...