Baton Rouge Health District

Baton Rouge Health-Tech Catalyst

Baton Rouge, LA

Venture Challenge

Federal Share: $599,385
Local Match: $602,762

This proposal is sponsored by the Baton Rouge Health District (BR Health District), a place-based coalition of health-related anchor institutions, and clustered in and around a 1,000-acre designated district in the heart of Baton Rouge, Louisiana - all within the 9-parish Capital metro area that it primarily aims to serve.

The proposed program will provide an unequaled opportunity for a strategic technology-based economic development approach by targeting catalytic innovation between BR Health District anchor institutions and startup-stage, growth-stage, and established industry leaders.

The program, under the Direction of BR Health District Executive Director, Steven Ceulemans, will be executed by an experienced implementation and steering team spanning three matching share providing institutions: BR Health District, Baton Rouge Area Chamber, and Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Two dedicated new hires are anticipated to support grant program implementation, to result in 100 new jobs, $5 million in innovation capital, and overall engagement of 1,500 stakeholders.