EDA Gives $442.5K to Innovation Philadelphia for Economic Development

Innovation Philadelphia (IP), the public-private partnership dedicated to enhancing the global innovation economy of Philadelphia through technological leadership, received on Monday a $442,500 investment from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.

With a goal of developing a coordinated technology-based, cluster-driven, economic development strategy for the Greater Philadelphia Region, the investment will support a series of studies of the Knowledge Economy that will focus on new approaches, relationships, methods and technologies, including: cluster analysis, innovation diagnostics, nanotechnology and life science research and workforce development, university and industry technology consortium, angel investment, and knowledge partnership for student engagement and retention.

"This investment from EDA will allow us to amplify the forward momentum of the regional knowledge economy," said Richard Bendis, President and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia, in a press statement. "It also demonstrates the increased access to federal funding that is one of IP's primary goals."

"President Bush believes one way to create jobs is to grow the economy by encouraging investments in local communities," said Steven Nesmith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce. "This EDA investment will provide Philadelphia with information that will allow its many private-public technology partnerships to implement activities that will result in economic development through knowledge economy growth, reduced emigration of graduates with high-tech training and increased commercialization of university research."

With the investment, IP will develop a better understanding of Philadelphia's comparative advantage and will sharpen public policy tools such as tax incentives, incubator investment and support for commercialization, and industry-championed skills training, enabling the private sector to maximize return on taxpayer investment.

EDA serves as a venture capital resource to meet the economic development needs of distressed communities throughout the United States. EDA partners with states, local governments and community nonprofit organizations in economically distressed areas, regions and communities in order to alleviate unemployment and underemployment.