The Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced 44 new awards from two grant programs of its 2019 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) competition, for a total of $22.5 million. Focused on regional economic capacity-building, both RIS programs, i6 Challenge and Seed Fund Support, offer opportunities for college and universities to play a key role in regional economic development.

The i6 Challenge program aims to increase economic growth and productivity “through entrepreneurship that translates innovations, ideas, intellectual property, and applied research into new businesses, accelerated paths to export, increased foreign direct investment, and new jobs.” EDA made 26 i6 Challenge awards across 19 states, providing $17.5 million in federal funding that will be matched by $20.2 million in funds from a variety of private and public sector stakeholders. Click here to view a list of awardees and links to descriptions of their projects.

The Seed Fund Support program is designed to “support the creation, launch, or expansion of equity-based, cluster-focused seed funds that invest regionally-managed risk capital in regionally-based startups with a potential for high growth.” Out of 40 applications to the program, EDA made 18 Seed Fund Support awards across 16 states and two territories, providing $5 million in federal funding that will be matched by $5.9 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector stakeholders. Click here to view a list of awardees and links to descriptions of their projects.

For more information, view the EDA award announcements for the i6 Competition and Seed Fund Support.