North Dakota TBED Efforts Receive $1.2M from EDA

Securing the multi-year funding needed to properly ramp up technology-based economic development (TBED) initiatives can be difficult in states with annual budget cycles and tight revenue streams. Fortunately, there is one federal agency that provides financial assistance increasingly toward local and regional projects matching the interests of the nation’s TBED community.

Unfortunately, annual appropriations for the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) have dropped by nearly 20 percent over the past four years, making competition for the federal matching grants that much more fierce as the nation’s economy heightened the need to encourage innovation-based growth.

Two separate EDA grants awarded last week in North Dakota, totalling $1.2 million, provide examples of how states and local communities can direct the funding toward TBED programs.

The agency awarded the Center for Innovation and the University of North Dakota $750,000 toward completion of a second technology incubator, the Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center. The new 20,000-square-foot facility will cost $3.8 million when completed in December and will be located within the 60-acre university technology park.

The second grant is a $465,000 three-year award, to help market and commercialize research and technology developed at the University of North Dakota (UND) and North Dakota State University (NDSU). The project is a partnership among the research institutions, the North Dakota Department of Commerce and the Center for Innovation.

The funds will be used to develop research-related industry clusters, provide entrepreneurial assistance and coaching, and launch business recruitment and start-up efforts primarily at UND’s Center for Innovation and NDSU’s 55-acre Research and Technology Park. NDSU’s Center for Community Vitality also will be connected to the pilot rural outreach effort to link new start-up ventures into other parts of the state.

[Conference Note: Tapping EDA for Tech-based Economic Growth, one of 30 breakout sessions at SSTI’s 8th Annual Conference, will provide an insider’s look at EDA funding priorities, how to navigate the proposal process, and increase your chances of capturing a portion of this important federal funding pool for your state or local tech-based strategies. More information is available at: http://www.ssti.org/conference04.htm

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