May 23, 2016
By Julie Lenzer, Director, EDA Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Craig Buerstatte, Deputy Director, EDA Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
To ensure a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, communities must foster collaboration amongst multiple stakeholders: universities, entrepreneurs, investors, and private sector leaders. Bringing these groups together provides an opportunity to exchange ideas, think outside the box, and develop a culture of trust and experimentation all of which lead to greater outcomes. As a convener and funder of these very efforts, the U.S. Government recognizes the importance of this collaboration, and “practices what it preaches” by recruiting Federal Advisory Councils to ensure policies and programs are forward thinking and provide relevant value to stakeholders.
The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) is one of these advisory councils. Appointed by the Secretary of Commerce for two-year terms, members are charged with identifying and recommending solutions to issues critical to driving the innovation economy, including enabling entrepreneurs and firms to successfully access and develop a skilled, globally competitive workforce.
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May 2016 Newsletter
EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) is excited to announce major developments in two of its core initiatives:
- Beginning May 2, 2016, OIE is soliciting applications for appointment to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) for its next term. The application period will close at 11:59pm Eastern Time on June 1, 2016.
- The 2016 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) has been launched. The application period is currently open and will close at 11:59pm Eastern Time on June 24, 2016.
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May 2016 Newsletter
In 2015, the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC) was awarded a $500,000 i6 Challenge grant to support increased commercialization in the region’s growing life science cluster and provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs in the Greater New Orleans and across the state.
NOBIC has scaled its assistance to entrepreneurs by engaging a greater number of businesses, providing workshops, networking, and resources to entrepreneurs, and developing a mentorship network to provide additional leadership to rising startups.
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May 2016 Newsletter
On May 6, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and EDA Assistant Secretary Jay Williams visited Dalton, Georgia to highlight the Commerce Department’s Skills for Business Agenda and its signature initiative, the “Communities that Work Partnership” (CWTP). As part of their visit, they toured Engineered Floors and the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy’s Advanced Manufacturing and Business Academy.
The recent ManpowerGroup's annual Talent Shortage Survey noted that 32 percent of U.S. employers report difficulties filling job vacancies due to talent shortages. Through its Skills for
Business Agenda, the Commerce Department created the Communities that Work Partnership with the Aspen Institute to facilitate industry-led training partnerships that help prepare workers with the skills they need for in-demand jobs.
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May 11, 2016
By Eric Severson, NACIE Member
Contrary to popular belief, innovative ideas do not tend to spring, fully formed, from the minds of geniuses. Instead, most experts agree, innovation is more often the product of intentionally introducing ideas and solutions from unfamiliar vantage points to solve familiar challenges. For example, Proctor & Gamble got the idea for its laundry wrinkle releaser from the work of a computer chip scientist, and Pepsi came up with a way to make snacks taste salty with less salt after reviewing the work of osteoporosis researchers.
This phenomenon (solving old problems in new ways by introducing solutions to other, unrelated problems) is called "open innovation" - and it is, fittingly, one of the primary reasons the Commerce Department's National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (NACIE) has been successful.
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May 10, 2016
On May 7, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker visited Dalton, Georgia to highlight the Commerce Department’s Skills for Business Agenda and its signature initiative, the “Communities that Work Partnership” (CWTP). As part of her visit, she toured J+ J Flooring Group and the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy’s Advanced Manufacturing and Business Academy.
The recent ManpowerGroup's annual Talent Shortage Survey noted that 32 percent of U.S. employers report difficulties filling job vacancies due to talent shortages. Through its Skills for Business Agenda, the Commerce Department created the Communities that Work Partnership with the Aspen Institute to facilitate industry-led training partnerships that help prepare workers with the skills they need for in-demand jobs.
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May 3, 2016
By Jay Williams, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development
At the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), one of our top priorities is advancing the President’s commitment to providing talented entrepreneurs in underserved communities with the opportunity to put their dreams into action. Entrepreneurship and innovation are essential drivers of our nation’s economic prosperity.
A key supporter of innovation is the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program. EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) leads the RIS Program to spur innovation capacity-building activities in regions across the nation through two unique grant opportunities – the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support Grants.
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