44 SPRINT Challenge Grantees Awarded a Total of $29M

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APRIL 6, 2021

U.S. Department of Commerce Awards $29M in SPRINT Challenge Grants to Respond to Coronavirus Pandemic Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo today announced that a total of $29 million would be awarded to 44 organizations as part of the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Scaling Pandemic Resilience Through Innovation and Technology (SPRINT) Challenge.

Last year, the SPRINT Challenge was launched to harness America’s entrepreneurial potential to address the economic, health, and safety risks caused by the coronavirus pandemic through entrepreneurship and innovation.

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Project highlights include the University of California, Los Angeles’ LA-R2C Accelerator, which aims to scale innovative bioscience technologies that foster COVID-19 prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and health equity; Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation’s project to accelerate digital health innovations for family caregivers and healthcare providers; the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Foundation’s efforts to safely re-open the tourism and performing arts industries in southeast Alaska and the Central Puget Sound region; the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET)’s project that will advance smart manufacturing technologies and promote cross-sector collaboration in Northeast Ohio; and the Greater New Orleans Development Foundation’s new program to help businesses transition from “P.P.E. to P.P.P.T.” (Personal Protective Equipment to Post-Pandemic Products and Technologies.)

The awardees, selected from a pool of 238 applicants, are located in 25 states and Puerto Rico and will leverage approximately $9 million in additional matching funds from various private and public sector sources.

The SPRINT Challenge grant recipients are:

 

For more information, visit EDA’s SPRINT Challenge webpage at https://eda.gov/oie/sprint/.

EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) administers the SPRINT Challenge, as authorized through the CARES Act.

This challenge builds on the momentum of EDA’s Build to Scale Program, which builds regional economies through scalable startups.