Maine has a good year developing innovation and entrepreneurship
As the leaves turn, it's time for the feds to announce the winners of this year's multi-agency regional innovation cluster competitions. By contrast to 2010, which had nearly a half-dozen competitions from the Small Business Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy and USDA, 2011 delivered just two — both multi-agency initiatives led by the Economic Development Administration, part of the DoC.
While it might appear that fewer signals less, the feds have continued their efforts toward multi-agency collaborations, combining funding from multiple agencies channeled through a single agency, typically EDA. The larger of the two was the $37 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator, which engaged a record 20 agencies (three funding, 17 supporting) in a single competition. The other was a clean energy sector-focused version of last year's i6 Challenge competition (see "All together now") called the i6 Green.
The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator awarded to each of 20 consortia nationally an average of $1.8 million to support existing high-growth clusters. Maine's Green ME, an initiative of the Northern Maine Development Commission focused on its renewable energy cluster, was one awardee. The consortium consists of approximately 55 businesses that produce energy extracted or captured from ongoing natural processes, generated and regenerated naturally. The project's objective is to transition 9,000 residential units and 20 commercial facilities to primary or supplemental wood biomass fuel in four years.
The second EDA award was the i6 Green, which awarded six $2 million awards to each of EDA's regions; Maine is part of the 13-state Region 1 that runs from New England to Virginia. I6 Green was designed to promote clean energy "proof of concept centers," organizations designed to support clean energy innovation development. As I noted in "i6 redux," I organized in partnership with the University of New Hampshire a northern New England consortium.
This year's Region 1 award went to a multi-state consortium led by the New England Clean Energy Foundation, a non-profit foundation of the New England Clean Energy Council, a trade association based in Boston. While UNH's program, Clean Start, garnered unprecedented tri-state engagement with congressional support from all six senators and three governors, NECEF used its strong asset base centered in the venture capital epicenter that is the greater Boston metro area.
Maine's nationally recognized cluster catalyst the Maine Technology Institute supported both NECEF and UNH's Clean Start; consortium members are allowed to support multiple groups and so MTI will see some matching funds and collaboration from NECEF. NECEF's proposal — the i6 Green New England Partnership — will create a proof of concept network that will focus its efforts on renewable energy, energy efficiency and water technologies. The partnership will develop a network to collaborate to provide promising clean-tech lab and pre-venture projects with funding, business assistance, technical resources and testing infrastructure.
The scope consists of two initiatives: First, the proof of concept center will develop the New England Innovation Connector System to facilitate and foster the exchange of ideas among New England's clean-tech stakeholders. Second, the center will provide services and funding to assist in the commercialization of promising clean-tech innovations. These initiatives are composed of the following elements: 1) market pull through the identification of business challenges; 2) research labs to accelerate initial technology research, testing and development; 3) funding for pre-commercial research and development; 4) mentorship, team building and business model development; and 5) connection with corporate partners and investors for follow-up funding.
MTI will benefit from its engagement both by garnering some matching funds for its cash commitment to the initiative and by collaborating with the rich array of education, networking, mentoring and capital resources associated with NECEC. While UNH Clean Start would have secured more funding for each of the northern New England states, NECEF's proposal has potential to bring much of the riches of southern New England to the northern states. I'm disappointed to see another consortium loss, but I'm hopeful and optimistic that NECEF's initiative will bring some benefit to the region, particularly to Maine.
Between the win for NMDC, the MTI affiliation with NECEF's i6 Green and the recent Blackstone Foundation grant of $3 million to Maine's entrepreneurship and innovation community (see "Spurring innovation"), Maine has done quite well for itself this year. Future federal funding for programs such as this is likely to be questionable in light of the political and budget dynamic, so here's hoping that Maine leverages these resources to maximum benefit to bridge the state until the national, regional and local economies pick up a bit.
Michael Gurau, president of Clear Venture Partners, can be reached at mg@clearvcs.com.
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