SBA Announces New Solicitation to Expand Funding for Regional Innovation Cluster Network
June 28 2024 - 1:02PM
Today,
Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head
of the
U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for
America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced a new
funding solicitation for the SBA’s Regional Innovation Cluster
(RIC) Initiative that will make awards for the first time at two
funding levels: emerging and mature clusters. The RIC solicitation
will open on July 1, 2024, and will close on July 26 at 1:00 PM ET.
“President Biden is delivering historic Investments in America
that continue to strengthen innovation, supply chains, and new
industries, as well as spark a small business boom with 18 million
new business applications filed,” said Administrator Guzman.
“The SBA’s Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative provides
communities with funding to spur further development of
industry-focused entrepreneurship ecosystems that support small
businesses developing and commercializing critical technologies in
key areas, such as developing safe, secure, and trustworthy AI. Our
two new funding levels will support both emerging and mature
industry clusters and help ensure small business innovators have
access to the technical assistance, industry knowledge, and capital
products necessary to start and grow their businesses.”
The SBA launched the RIC Initiative in September 2010 to promote
and support the development of clusters, which are geographically
concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers,
service providers, and associated institutions in a particular
industry or field across the country. Clusters act as a networking
hub for small businesses, convening several resources to help
navigate the funding, procurement, and supply-chain opportunities
in a specific industry. They also assist businesses in matching
cutting-edge technology to industry needs and increase the number
of innovative small businesses and entrepreneurs in the nation’s
supply chain. Emerging clusters develop and deploy small
business support services in their designated regions and
industries, and the RIC Initiative enables them to scale their
current and future programming to reach more small businesses.
Mature clusters have experience building and implementing
programming to support small businesses, and the RIC Initiative
enables them to increase the effectiveness of programming and
operations to reach more small businesses and strengthen existing
and new partnerships.
“The Office of Investment and Innovation catalyzes the
development and growth of industry clusters across the country, and
the new funding levels are part of our ongoing effort to right-size
our support for industry clusters across their full life span,”
said Associate Administrator Bailey DeVries.
The SBA’s Investment and Innovation Ecosystem Development in the
Office of Investment and Innovation will host a webinar on July 9,
2024 at 3:00 PM ET to discuss the solicitation. Interested offerors
also have until July 11, 2024 at 1:00 PM ET to submit any questions
related to the solicitation to RICInitiative2024@sba.gov. All
answers will be posted publicly to the solicitation page.
The solicitation is available at SAM.gov. Regional Innovation
Clusters are established through contracts. Eligibility to apply is
open to all non-profit and for-profit firms with an active SAM.gov
registration eligible for federal contracts at time of offer.
To learn more about the RIC Initiative, including current RICs,
please visit: Regional Innovation Clusters | U.S. Small Business
Administration (sba.gov)
###
About SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation The
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Investment and
Innovation (OII) leads programs that provide the U.S.
growth-oriented small business and startup community with access to
financial capital, networks, assistance, and R&D funds to
develop commercially viable innovations. Our work is underpinned by
public-private partnerships that help small businesses on their
trajectory from idea to IPO. Learn more at sba.gov.
About the U.S. Small Business AdministrationThe U.S.
Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business
ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for
small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government,
the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the
resources and support they need to start, grow, or expand their
businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers
services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and
partnerships with public and private organizations. Learn more at
sba.gov.
Christine Saah Nazer
U.S. Small Business Administration
202-756-0304
Christine.saahnazer@sba.gov