Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and University President Teresa Sullivan announced Wednesday the Virginia Innovation Partnership — a fund that supports start-ups and early-stage technologies — will receive a $1 million federal grant.
The award is part of $7 million in new grants available through the i6 Challenge, an annual initiative led by the Department of Commerce that funds innovation-based entrepreneurial projects.
The Department of Commerce selected the partnership and six other organizations from about 80 applicants from across the United States.
“These centers will help provide the tools and the support entrepreneurs and researchers need to take their product to market, to launch businesses, to drive innovation, and to create jobs,” Blank said in the Rotunda Dome Room Wednesday morning.
The partnership is managed by the University, Virginia Tech and SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute. It will dispense between $40,000 and $80,000 to 20 Virginia entrepreneurial and technological projects.
The partnership will hold entrepreneurs accountable to certain benchmarks for product development and to ensure the long-term viability of the project.
“Applicants must prove that the concept will continue to create jobs, that it is not just a flash in the pan,” said Matt Erskine, the acting assistant secretary of commerce for economic development and a University alumnus.
No portion of the pool of money awarded to the partnership is set aside specifically for the University. To benefit from the grant, the University will need to have projects compete for funding from the partnership.
“Our inventors and researchers are welcome to compete, but they won’t have a free pass,” Sullivan said.
Through its investment the partnership will create an estimated 2,000 jobs after eight years, according to a Department of Commerce press release.
Though many Virginia businesses and start-ups are eligible for funding from the partnership, certain sectors may be particularly likely to lobby for investment funds, particularly biomedical industries, Sullivan said.
Vice President for Research Thomas Skalak said firms will be able to reapply for grants if they are not successful this year.
“We believe that talent is all around Virginia,” Skalak said. “Even those who don’t get funded can come back to the network. There is a support network.”
2012 marks the third year of the i6 Challenge. The i6 Challenge is also awarding grants of up to $1 million to similar centers in California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
Krista Pedersen contributed to this report.
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