U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today visited the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla., where she toured the university’s Maker Space Labs and joined Sen. Bill Nelson to announce the first round awards of the Regional Innovation Strategies Program.
Before touring the labs, Secretary Pritzker announced the award recipients and delivered remarks on the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery Good afternoon. I am pleased to be here with Senator Bill Nelson – a proud son of Florida and a champion for this state’s workers, businesses, and families.
Nearly 30 years ago, Senator Nelson stepped aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as a Payload Specialist. He is only the second Member of Congress to travel into space. That flight – and his four decades of service to his home state – reflects his unwavering belief in America’s spirit of innovation.
That spirit is embodied each and every day by entrepreneurs, inventors, scientific researchers, and investors who support start-ups, both here in Florida and across the United States.
Senator Nelson knows – as we all do – that entrepreneurship and innovation are essential ingredients in our nation’s economic prosperity.
In fact, across a wide range of sectors and regions, entrepreneurs and small business owners have generated more than 65 percent of net new jobs over the last two decades.
What that means is: when startups succeed, our economy succeeds, our workers benefit, and our families are better off. And from Congress to our Administration, we want to ensure that all entrepreneurs have the opportunity to move their ideas and inventions from the computer screen to the marketplace.
As America’s “Innovation Agency,” the Commerce Department has a key role to play in supporting the innovators and job creators of tomorrow. The Regional Innovation Strategies Program competition is designed to advance this mission.
Led by the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, this initiative advances innovation and capacity-building activities in regions across the country, by providing grants to reinforce infrastructure through feasibility and planning studies for science and research parks; to invest in centers that help entrepreneurs take ideas from the garage and lab to production and sales; and to expand access to early stage capital and seed funding for promising startups.
Today, we have come together at the University of Central Florida to announce first round awards of the Regional Innovation Strategies Program. These awards – totaling nearly $10 million – include the i6 Challenge and the Seed Capital Fund grants and are going to 26 universities, nonprofits, and municipalities across the country.
From urban areas like Atlanta and New Orleans to rural communities like Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Ruston, Louisiana, these grants will enable local innovators to design, develop, and sell new products.
These funds will be a catalyst for communities to attract broader investments to their innovation ecosystems, which will create high wage jobs and ensure America remains the world leader in innovation.
I am especially proud to announce that UCF is one of two institutions in the country to receive both an i6 Challenge grant and a Seed Capital Fund grant. This achievement is a recognition of the university’s leadership in using innovation and commercialization to help Central Florida recover from the downturn in this region’s manufacturing sector.
Building on the resources developed by the University over the past 15 years, the i6 grant will support UCF’s new “Proof of Concept Center,” where talented engineers from the five counties hardest-hit by changes in the local economy can translate new products – like technology for stronger and quicker prosthetic limbs – into businesses.
The center’s mission will be supported by a second grant for their StarterCorps Seed Fund, which will deploy early-stage capital into innovative technology and advanced manufacturing startups across Central Florida.
This program addresses the gap in seed funding for local entrepreneurs – which is considered one of the largest barriers faced by startups around the country, and Central Florida’s tech start-ups are no exception.
Beyond UCF, other grantees are addressing challenges specific to their regional markets. For example, a development institute in Butte, Montana, will help manufacturers prototype products using advanced manufacturing technologies; the University of Alaska Fairbanks will commercialize smart grid innovations in rural Alaska; and a nonprofit in Salt Lake City, Utah, will deploy an innovative fund to drive more money into the hands of early-stage entrepreneurs.
UCF and all of the awardees will advance the core aims and objectives of the Regional Innovation Strategies Program. They will shape the next great era of U.S. entrepreneurship and start-up success and secure America’s competitive edge and global leadership in innovation over the long run.
By investing in these efforts in Florida and nationwide, we can, and will, keep America open for business – for the enterprising businesses of today and for the innovative businesses of the future.
Congratulations to UCF and to all of the grant recipients announced today. I look forward to seeing you turn great ideas into great American companies.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
