RIEDC Announces New Public/Private Partnership to Foster Entrepreneurial Activity in Ocean State
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March 24, 2009 | Print this page | Share This |
RIEDC, Brown University and other partners to create the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) and Brown University announced plans for a new center designed to train and develop Rhode Island's entrepreneurs who will help to strengthen the state's economy and create more high-wage jobs. The Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RICIE) will launch this spring in space located on the second floor of One Davol Square, a Jewelry District property owned by Brown University.
The RICIE will help entrepreneurs throughout the state learn the skills and find the dependable advice they need to launch new companies and create high-paying knowledge-economy jobs.
"Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship is critical to creating a strong economic foundation for Rhode Island," said Governor Donald L. Carceiri. "I applaud Brown University and the leadership at the Economic Development Corporation for this joint venture to provide our future business leaders with the tools they need to grow their business, grow jobs, and create new industries in Rhode Island."
The Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), the Slater Technology Fund, the Rhode Island School of Design, University of Rhode Island and Lifespan have joined managing members Brown University and RIEDC as additional members, pledging early support with formal letters of interest. RICIE will seek additional private-sector financing and sponsorships as it ramps up programs. Other partners such as the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, City of Providence (and Providence Economic Development Partnership) have publicly declared their support for the RICIE.
"Especially in a downturn, we need to be facilitating inventors and entrepreneurs moving their ideas forward," said Clyde Briant, Brown's vice president for research and a leading advocate for the project. "These ideas will lead to businesses and jobs, and we should be doing all that we can to encourage such growth."
RIEDC, the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council and the Slater Technology Fund will supply seed money, including a $100,000 investment in the first year of operations and $100,000 in the second. Brown University's contribution to the RICIE will include supporting real estate and space costs for the center's first two years as well as funding a small staff, including salary for an executive director.
"Creating a center that actively engages our entrepreneurs throughout our entire state while at the same time giving them the tools to succeed and grow their business here is an essential component in strengthening our economy,” said J. Michael Saul, interim executive director, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. “This center will undoubtedly benefit the state for many years to come."
The center is one of the key action items RIEDC is pursuing as part of its 2009 Economic Growth Plan. The growth plan proposes 10 concrete action items to accelerate the pace of job growth in Rhode Island. RICIE's launch will also be a valued addition to efforts to attract companies and redevelopment to Providence's Jewelry District (aka, Knowledge District).
"This will be a key asset in making the Jewelry District our central platform for growing 21st-century companies in Providence. I am grateful to Brown and the RIEDC for taking the lead on this Center and for being great partners in our vision for the future," said Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.
Rather than launch a traditional business incubator, the developers of RICIE decided to create a center that supplies expertise to the state's college and university faculty, researchers and entrepreneurs in their quest to launch new high-technology, life sciences, design or other knowledge economy businesses throughout Rhode Island.
RICIE will provide space for business leaders to hold workshops, seminars, networking events and conferences. It will also offer entrepreneurs a source for expert advice from intellectual property attorneys, accountants, business planners, venture capitalists and others in the community. Plans call for RICIE to take up approximately 5,000 square feet in a space that includes a large conference room and smaller meeting spaces, with room to expand.
"We hope to provide a place where entrepreneurs and inventors can come and turn their ideas into business realities," stated Jeff Seemann, co-chair, STAC and dean, college of the environment and life sciences, University of Rhode Island. "There are a lot of people with good ideas, but often they don't know how to evaluate these ideas with regard to commercialization or how to turn them into a product."
RICIE will also link existing programs designed to help entrepreneurs and start-up companies, including the Brown Forum for Enterprise, the Slater Technology Fund and RIEDC's RI Nexus program. Once underway, RICIE will also partner with government and private-sector job-development groups.
Richard G. Horan, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund, said the new center's focus on engaging universities in entrepreneurship in Rhode Island "offers tremendous opportunities" and shows how positive collaboration can be. "It is terrific to see Brown taking a leadership role in this initiative," Horan said. "The Slater Technology Fund looks forward to working together with all of the Center's partners moving forward."
RICIE is launching after months of planning, as an attempt to answer calls for more collaborative efforts to boost business growth in Rhode Island. RICIE is meant to dovetail with city and state efforts already underway, including Rhode Island's Knowledge Economy initiative, which grew out of a report released in October 2008 by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. This report cited "strengthening entrepreneurial connectivity" as a key market driver and priority area of focus.
"Commercialization of technologies developed and discovered at our institutions of higher education and medical facilities was a key recommendation of the Knowledge Economy Study," said Laurie White, the Chamber's president. "This investment is critical in moving Rhode Island's knowledge economy forward, as studies have shown that only through increased support for entrepreneurship will both the city and state fully realize the commercial potential of the many assets and talents we have within our borders. The Chamber is pleased to be a part of this exciting new initiative."