SBA names winners of Regional Innovation Clusters Initiative
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) has announced the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative awards winners. There are 14 winners from a pool of 79 applicants. There are two categories for these awards: emerging and mature clusters. According to the SBA press release, emerging clusters develop and deploy small business support services in their designated regions and industries, and mature clusters have experience building and implementing programming to support small businesses.
Learn more about the Regional Innovation Clusters program at SSTI’s 2024 Annual Conference. SBA is partnering with SSTI for the event and will be participate in the Federal Funding Forum and sessions on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) programs. See the full agenda for the conference and register today.
The fourteen awardees are listed below with the amounts of first year funding (new cluster awards can be optioned by SBA for up to four additional years), technology focus, and region:
- AgTech Innovation Alliance received $250,000 to support AgriFoodTech small businesses in California’s Central Valley.
- Applied Research Institute received $499,955 to support small businesses in the biotech industry across central Indiana.
- Bounce Innovation Hub received $250,000 to support small businesses developing novel materials for medical devices and wearable sensors in northeast Ohio.
- Celdara Medical received $499,611 to support life science small businesses across Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
- CleanTech Alliance Washington received $497,494 to support small businesses in the clean technology industry in Washington state.
- Hyperion Technologies received $498,900 to support small businesses developing clean technologies in the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.
- Integrative Business Services received $500,000 to support artificial intelligence and optics' small businesses in southern Arizona.
- LSI Business Development received $499,945 to support small, advanced manufacturers in Utah.
- RIoT, an economic development initiative of the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina, received $333,254 to support small businesses building Internet of Things (IoT) and data economy technologies in North Carolina.
- Shadow Ridge Analytics received $254,584 to support small businesses in the advanced engineering and critical materials industries in southwest Montana.
- Southwestern College Foundation received $499,949 to support small businesses in the manufacturing and biotechnology industries in San Diego and Imperial Counties in California.
- Startup Junkie Consulting received $376,936 to support small businesses in leveraging lithium for the clean energy and electric vehicle transition across northeast Texas, southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, and west Mississippi.
- The Water Council received $499,653 to support small businesses in the water and resiliency industry in Wisconsin.
- UpSurge Baltimore received an award[1] to support small businesses in cybersecurity and biotechnology industries across the Baltimore metropolitan area.
To learn more about the RIC Initiative, including current RICs, please visit: Regional Innovation Clusters | U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov).
[1] Neither the SBA press release nor USA Spending currently lists an award amount for UpSurge Baltimore. SSTI will update when possible.