Limited Submission Funding Opportunity: EDA 2021 Build to Scale (B2S) Program
URL: https://www.eda.gov/files/oie/
OBJECTIVES:
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) released a solicitation for their competitive Build to Scale (B2S) program (formally the Regional Innovation Strategies program). B2S aims to stimulate entrepreneurship, cluster based economic development, job growth in emerging sectors, and the translation of discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. Major changes from last year’s competition include discontinuing the sector-specific Industry Challenge and the “concept proposals” phase of the application process. The 2021 competition will feature two distinct funding opportunities: the Venture Challenge and the Capital Challenge.
B2S is popular among universities and research organization as it is one of the only federal funding streams that directly supports capacity-building for regional economic development. The program provides support to address demonstrated needs in innovation ecosystems through projects that expand regional entrepreneurship, grow scalable industries, forge cross-sectional partnerships, and create jobs. Additional information on each of the funding opportunities is provided below.
Venture Challenge (formally the i6 Challenge): The goals of the Venture Challenge are to stimulate entrepreneurship and the growth of scalable startups in a region or combination of regions by providing support to innovation-facing organizations like universities or accelerators. Funding could be used to leverage regional strengths to advance job creation, improve research commercialization, and remediate “structural barriers that inhibit regional innovation capacity and resilience.” As with the last competition, there will be two funding levels for the Venture Challenge program, Build and Scale. Each program focuses on different stages of regional capacity-building endeavors and applicants for both programs must demonstrate commitment and ability to achieve the proposed impact of their projects. Overviews of these programs are provided below.
- Venture Challenge Build provides support for developing new interventions to address identified needs and/or implementing known interventions to a new community. EDA will provide up to $750,000 over a three-year project period for Build projects, which is $150,000 more than the topline funding amounts for the 2020 competition. EDA plans to award approximately $12,000,000 total to Venture Challenge Build awardees.
- Venture Challenge Scale supports the scaling of existing efforts that have achieved positive impacts. Applicants should demonstrate their proven record for success in building regional capacity and carrying out programs. While the Scale track can apply to building upon any successful intervention, this could provide a pathway for applicants previously funded under the i6 Challenge to further scale their work after their project period has ended. EDA will provide between $750,000 and $1.5 million over a three-year project period for Scale projects. EDA plans to award approximately $20,000,000 total to Venture Challenge Scale awardees.
Capital Challenge (formally Seed Fund Support): This program will provide funding for the planning, formation, marketing, expansion, or launch of regional seed capital funds. Support from these grants should focus on enhancing seed funds that provide financial backing for promising startups as they look to commercialize new technologies. Projects should support equity-based investing, evaluate the growth-potential for companies, and use funds to further expand the regional deployment of capital (i.e. angel networks or investor training programs). EDA states that funding will support operational and programmatic costs and cannot be used for investment funds. EDA will provide up to $400,000 over a three-year project period for Capital Challenge projects, which is $100,000 more than the topline funding amounts for the 2020 competition. EDA plans to award approximately $6,000,000 total under the Capital Challenge.
Cost-Sharing: At the time of the submission, applicants must demonstrate a matching cost-share from a non-federal source. The applicant must provide proof that a minimum 1:1 match will be committed to the project for the project period, be available when needed, and not be conditioned in any way that “may preclude its use consistent with the requirements of EDA investment assistance.” In-kind contributions may be used for a project’s cost-share requirement. Additional restrictions on matching requirements are provided in the full NOFO.
FUNDING INFORMATION: up to $1,500,000 depending on project track and duration
ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS:
Institutions may apply to both challenges but can only submit one application per challenge. This means an applicant can submit for the Capital Challenge and submit one application for either the Build OR Scale portions of the Venture Challenge.
INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS:
Interested investigators should submit the following materials via InfoReady Review by DATE: 3/19/2021
- Questions outlined in InfoReady Review application;
- A brief statement (up to 2 pages) by the candidate describing their achievements and proposed project;
- A brief budget outline for the proposed project
- Up-to-date CV or biosketch.
A faculty committee will review internal proposals and select nominees.
DEADLINES:
Internal Materials Due: Friday, March 19, 2021
Sponsor Deadline: Thursday, April 29, 2021