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One of the main advantages of WIRED involves the flexibility of using federal funds to leverage additional investments with new ideas. In North Central Indiana, we used WIRED funds to identify and strengthen entrepreneurship skills through business plan competitions. 

Business plan competitions are one of the best ways to raise the profile of entrepreneurship within a region. We could not used WIRED funds for prize money, so we turned to our state economic development folks for help. They lined up the support we needed to develop a successful competition. 

You can read more about our competition here. 

If you are interested in the background information on our approach, please contact Pat Bacon at the Indiana Venture Center. 

Here are some examples of other business plan competitions around the country: 

• Mississippi State University
  
• UC Berkeley
  
• Rice University
  
• Northwest Venture Championship
  

Mary Ellen Clark, WIRED Bio-1 and Aaron Fichter, Ph.D, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development take a look at how to measure the effectiveness of your implementation strategies.

Some of the key questions addressed include:

1. Are you feeling any pain over the time/resources it takes to collect data and report on it?
2. Are you confident the data you report is accurate

Bio-1 is in Central New Jersey, and comprises 5 counties and 4 workforce investment boards. Some initiatives they have focused on include: life science career campaign, career academies, residential programs, increasing bioscience workforce development with the 'Flak Jackets to Lab Coats' program to reintegrate returning vets into the workforce, enhancing linkages between education and industry via the web.

Metrics Steps:

Plan and Prepare (critical few, leverage/impact), Develop a Framework (strategy/alignment, balance, data collection), Development (Strategy ALignment,Balance, Op. Definitions), Deployment (Vertical alignment, accountability transfer), Collect and Analyze Data (Review Process, Actions, Project ID), Review Process (status, opportunities, projects), Plan and Prepare (Strategic Objectives, Development Team).

Operational Definitions:

Measure Owner: Who will report on this metric

Data Owner:  Who will collect and summarize data

Formula: How is this derived?

Benchmark/Goal: What is the target? If you have benchmarks from comparable regions include them here.

 Read more >>   Options >>  

There was a nice article in this week's New Mexico Business Journal about one component of the WIRED Initiative in that region.

A new initiative aims to address the looming work force shortage by helping connect New Mexico students and graduates who have left the state with job opportunities here.

The initiative is obtaining funding from a $50,000 seed grant from the French Family of Cos. and $400,000 that is part of a larger $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The program was initiated with a decision by French to donate $100,000 to the community in honor of its 100th anniversary, Swan said. The idea was to improve what he calls the "AIR quality" in Albuquerque -- shorthand for access, innovation and relationships.

The full article can be found here .

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is currently soliciting competitive applications from accredited institutions of higher education and from consortia of accredited institutions of higher education for FY 2008 University Center Economic Development Program funding in the geographic areas served by its Chicago and Philadelphia regional offices.

These EDA-sponsored University Centers conduct applied research, provide technical assistance to public and private sector organizations, and conduct other activities with the goal of enhancing regional economic development by promoting a favorable business environment to attract private capital investment and higher-skill, higher-wage jobs.

The closing date and time for receipt of applications for funding under the FY 2008 University Center Economic Development Program competition is April 15, 2008.

The Chicago regional office will hold a pre-application teleconference on March 5, 2008 at 10 a.m. (CST).  The Philadelphia regional office will hold its pre-application teleconference call on March 12, 2008 at 2 p.m. (EST).

The Chicago regional office serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Muscatine and Scott counties, Iowa.

The Philadelphia regional office serves Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands and West Virginia.

The amount of University Center funding available for competition in FY 2008 is expected to be approximately $1,118,370 for the Chicago regional office and approximately $1,396,760 for the Philadelphia regional office.

See Official Notice (pdf)