Newswise — Wichita State's Center for Innovation and Enterprise Engagement will receive a nearly $2 million federal interagency grant to create more jobs by supporting advanced manufacturing innovators to get commercially viable processes and products into production faster.
The Sept. 22 announcement was made by Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Fernandez, as part of the Obama administration's $37 million Jobs and Innovation Challenge, a multi-agency competition to support the advancement of 20 competitively selected, high-growth industry clusters across the country.
Economic development
First announced in May, the challenge aims to accelerate innovation-fueled job creation and global competitiveness by awarding grants to regions that demonstrate the existence of high-growth industry clusters that support a range of economic and workforce development activities.
"The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator program meshes economic development and workforce objectives with WSU's academic mission and empowers faculty, students and staff to employ assets and brainpower with the private sector to make innovation accessible, achievable and executable," said Zulma Toro-Ramos, dean of WSU's College of Engineering and director of the WSU center.
The funds awarded to Wichita State can be used to support and accelerate a range of measurable outcomes, including innovation, commercialization, business formation and expansion, development of a skilled workforce, job creation, exports, sustainable economic development and global competitiveness in enterprises that exhibit high growth development potential. These successful innovators will promote growth that is inclusive of the region's population.
"Receiving this grant and doing the work made possible by the funds provided is an excellent example of how Wichita State University contributes to the economic development of the region," said Keith Pickus, interim provost at Wichita State University.
Wichita State established the Center for Innovation and Enterprise Engagement in November 2010 to provide the expertise and infrastructure needed to help accelerate development of the advanced manufacturing industry cluster in Kansas.
The programs, laboratories and expertise of the College of Engineering, in collaboration with the center's partners and institutions, will build on WSU's reputation as a trusted industry partner engaging to tackle problems with passion and objectivity. The center provides help with engineering support, workforce training and business planning. More than 200 small and medium sized companies are part of the economic cluster.
The center will be opening a competitive solicitation for technology development and business counseling grants to innovators. Interested parties should contact the center at [email protected] to receive additional information.
Read more about the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge at http://www.eda.gov/InvestmentsGrants/jobsandinnovationchallenge.
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