Ten Years After the First EDA Science and Research Park Grants Were Awarded, It’s Time To Renew The Program

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) completed its tenth award Build to Scale (B2S) program (previously Regional Innovation Strategies) cycle this year. According to a new report from the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI), over $270 million in grants across 437 awards have been issued since its inception in 2014.

In that year, eleven awards were given specifically to research and science parks across the U.S. Over that time frame, EDA tweaked the program to provide funding for other initiatives through the B2S and Regional Innovation Strategies program over the past decade. 

As both EDA (through its Tech Hubs program) and NSF (through its Regional Innovation Engines program) deploys federal funding to selected areas across the country, it is more critical to provide physical resources to build inclusive physical infrastructure for tech companies to grow and thrive, including incubators, accelerators, and science and research parks, including those at non-R-1 research universities, HBCUs and Minority-serving institutions.

Last month, AURP released a white paper on the history of federal support for research parks and innovation districts.  

The SSTI report outlines the role the EDA Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship plays in increasing regional capacity and strengthening ecosystems. AURP urges EDA to consider renewing its science and research park grant program to provide the physical infrastructure in regions of the country lacking the needed support to fully support their regional innovation clusters.

SSTI: Useful Stats: Build to Scale’s 10th Anniversary, a historic look at awards

November 16, 2023 

By: Conor Gowder

The U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA’s) annual Build to Scale (B2S) program (previously Regional Innovation Strategies) completed its tenth award cycle this year, with over $270 million in grants across 437 awards since inception in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. FY 2023 was the largest award cycle, totaling $53 million in federal awards across the Venture and Capital Challenges.

Led by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Build to Scale is designed to increase regional capacity, strengthening ecosystems that equitably and inclusively support technology-based economic development (TBED) practices. Applicants propose projects designed to support entrepreneurs and/or technology acceleration in the program’s Venture Challenge or to develop and support risk capital initiatives in the Capital Challenge (originally Seed Fund Support). More information on the Challenges and their structures can be found here.

 2014 EDA Science and Research Park winners