InBIA Members Garner Nearly $4 Million in Federal Grants to Advance Innovation in the United States

ORLANDO, Fla. - Feb. 16, 2016 - PRLog -- The International Business Innovation Association (InBIA), a non-profit membership organization providing education and advocacy for advancing entrepreneurship and incubation across the U.S. and internationally, reports that eight of its member organizations are recipients of nearly $4 million in grants from the Department of Commerce. The awards, announced February 8, 2016, by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, are part of the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2015 Regional Innovation Strategies program.

The EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which manages the grants program, has awarded a total of $10 million to 25 different organizations. The funding awards are designed “to advance innovation and capacity-building activities” in regions across the country through two different competitions: the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support Grants competition,” according to an EDA press release.

InBIA member organizations will receive awards ranging from $368,760 to $500,000 from the two competitions. Those organizations and their award amounts are:

·         BioHealth Innovation, Inc., Rockville, Maryland [$495,000 for expansion of the Venture Commercialization Model]

·         Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Portland, Maine [$390,000 for Top Gun Rural Accelerator Network Expansion]

·         New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico [$368,760 for Next Gen Entrepreneurship]

·         Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio [$498,282 for Accelerating Pharmaceutical Commercialization: A Rural Proof of Concept Center for Economic Development]

·         Telluride Foundation, Telluride, Colorado [$499,720 for Southwest Innovation Corridor]

·         University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama [$500,000 for UAH Virtual Proof of Concept Center: The Growth & Acceleration of Products Project]

·         University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut [$500,000 for Quiet Corner Innovation Cluster]

·         Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia [$499,751 for CatalyzeVT: Expanding the Innovation Ecosystem in the Roanoke-Blacksburg Region of Virginia]

Kirstie Chadwick, president and CEO of InBIA, shared remarks on these accomplishments, “It is wonderfully gratifying to the association that a third of the organizations receiving these prestigious awards are InBIA members. We are extremely proud of the individuals running these great programs for the work they are doing to drive entrepreneurship and innovation in their respective communities.”

For more information on InBIA membership or how to join, please visit https://www.inbia.org/membership.