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Rhode Island EPC Consolidates Slater Centers
Yesterday's Providence Journal-Bulletin reports the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) has reduced by merger the number of Slater Centers. With the goal of increasing the impact of the state's annual $3 million investment, the restructuring from six to four centers is intended to reduce overhead and administrative costs, allowing more of each resulting center's funding to flow into emerging businesses.
The Slater Centers foster industry-university collaborations, build and strengthen relationships among academic institutions, and develop industry clusters. The centers offer business development resources — in the form of investments of up to $100,000 — to nascent ventures while creating a culture of entrepreneurialism. The merger, according to RIEPC officials quoted in the article, also permits center staff to focus more time and energy in the portfolio companies.
Two of the original six centers, the Slater Center for Biomedical Technology and the Slater Center for Interactive Technologies, remain focused in their original technology areas, while the remaining four are being consolidated into two broader centers: the Slater Center for Design and Manufacturing Innovation and the Slater Center for Marine and Environmental Technologies.
More information on the Slater Centers and RIEPC is available from: http://www.ripolicy.org/slater.html