U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross today announced that 44 organizations—including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and entrepreneurship-focused organizations—from 28 states and two territories will receive grants totaling $23 million to create and expand high-growth entrepreneurship and increase access to capital for communities across America. The grants are made annually under the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program competition. The 2019 awardees will leverage an additional $26 million in matching funds from a variety of private- and public-sector sources.

American small businesses received a near-$44 million boost from the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. As part of last Monday’s announcement, small businesses are receiving Phase II grants that demonstrate commercial feasibility for innovations during the second phase of their research. Phase II awards range from $975,000 to $1,150,000, with a duration of two years. 

Nine EERE technology offices (Advanced Manufacturing Office, Bioenergy Technologies Office, Building Technologies Office, Fuel Cell Technologies Office, Geothermal Technologies Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office, Vehicle Technologies Office, Water Power Technologies Office and the Wind Energy Technologies Office) will fund 42 awards across 19 states under 15 topics and 26 subtopics. 

Small businesses play a major role in spurring innovation and creating jobs in the U.S. economy. The SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs were created by Congress to leverage small businesses to advance innovation at federal agencies. DOE developed Technology Transfer Opportunity subtopics as a way for small businesses to partner with national laboratories on research and development needs to speed up the commercialization of national laboratory inventions.