Do projects (by small businesses or startup companies) that try to commercialize any particular technology or product qualify for the i6 Challenge?
The i6 Challenge is not a grant or award to fund commercialization of individual products or technologies. The goal of the i6 Challenge is to fund new ideas (proposals) that will promote or accelerate technology commercialization, and entrepreneurship with the ultimate goal of driving job creation and economic growth. We are looking for collaborative projects that have wide participation by various stakeholders (including universities, non-profit, for-profit, entrepreneurs, state/local governments, etc.). The challenge is intentionally designed to be non-prescriptive. The proposed projects should help to solve problems that impede within the technology commercialization process (i.e. from research to market) within a given region. EDA is not authorized to provide grants directly to individuals or to for-profit entities. For-profit entities can participate in the i6 Challenge in two ways: (i) by being a part of a team forming a non-profit organization, which applies to the i6 Challenge,
