The Rhode Island Executive Office of Commerce and the University of Rhode Island announced that it had received 16 responses for the Innovation Campus' Request for Proposal. IBM, Cambridge BioLabs and PolarisMEP and more are among dozens of companies hoping to play a role in the final project.
The RFP encouraged entities in both academia and industry to submit their ideas for ways the Innovation Campus could ultimately turn research into products, jobs or other opportunities. The best applications will receive a portion of the funds from the November 2016 Rhode Island voter-approved $20 million bond towards pursuing their visions.
A release announcing the news on March 16 stipulated that "one or more Innovation Campus proposals will be chosen," and that winning projects will have to "exceed the state's investment from the bond proceeds."
Members of the Executive Office of Commerce and the University of Rhode Island are in charge of considering proposals, potentially announcing winners this summer.
“It’s exciting to see the high-quality applicant pool that this competition has attracted,” said Secretary of Commerce Stefan Pryor. “Among those submitting are existing Rhode Island institutions and companies — as well as aspiring ones. And the fields they represent are varied. This is exactly what we were hoping for when the Governor, in partnership with the General Assembly, proposed this program.”
A list of all the applicants is included below. Their full RFP responses may be found here.
RFP Applicants
- Anbaric Development Partners, Tx Grid, Schneider Electric, Ramboll, Intersection (An Alphabet Co.), URI
- Arizona State University, URI, Ben Gurion
- Cambridge BioLabs, Wexford Science & Technology, URI
- IBM Alpha Zone, MassChallenge, First Data Corporation, Visible Systems, URI, Ben Gurion University, Brown University
- Entanglement Research Institute, AECOM, SENEDIA, D-Wave Government Inc., Rigetti & Co., Zapata Computing, Cisco Systems, Scepter Inc., Esri, Planet Defense, City of Newport, URI
- Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center, Raytheon Integrated Defense System, NUWC, SENEDIA, UTIC, High Performance Composites, URI
- Farming Turtles, Geremia Farms, URI
- DePuy Synthes Products Inc, (an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson), URI, RISD, Brown
- Loft, URI
- Polaris MEP, RI Marine Trades Association/Composites Alliance, RI Textiles Innovation Network, URI, Roger Williams University, RISD, AS220, IYRS, DESIGNxRI
- RI Mushroom Co., American Ag Energy Inc, Verinomics, URI
- Roger Williams Medical Center, Sorrento Therapeutics, PureTech Health, URI, Community College of RI
- Tiffany & Co., Saint-Gobain S. A., URI, Rhode Island School of Design
- Solielle Design Studio, Accurate Services Inc., Pallisades Mill, URI
- IBM Security, Infralinx Capital, Samach + SEO, URI
- SphereE, Smart Game Systems Inc., WIshKnish Inc., Focus Vision Media, Filarski Architects, URI
