Impacts

By The Numbers

Figure 1: Program metrics for Regional Innovation Strategies, now known as Build to Scale, from inception through 12/30/2019. (Click to enlarge)

To date, the Build to Scale program (previously called Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program) has run eight national competitions, soliciting more than 1,700 proposals from across the country and awarding $174 million in grants, matched by over $215 million in community dollars across 326 projects. Collectively, these grants have helped create more than 14,200 jobs and driven more than $1.6 billion in follow on investment capital into startups and new venture funds. EDA was appropriated $45 million for this program in 2021 and released the new competition in FY22.

In 2019, EDA completed a program evaluation of RIS to determine whether the program is achieving intended goals and to determine areas of improvement. The evaluation concluded that EDA’s implementation “has provided critical funding that would have otherwise been impossible for participants to raise and access” and “should be continued as a vital catalyst for supporting state and regional innovation.” For more information on each individual program and the overall program impacts, please view the executive summary and full reports below.