In 2016, the Ocean State's innovation scene was not what it is today.
The Brookings Institution had just released a report saying that Rhode Island's economy had "underperformed" in recent years. It had lost once-strong advanced industries, the researchers wrote; it needed to invest in future-oriented industries, laying out a fresh carpet for innovation. That year, Gov. Gina Raimondo would propose—per Brookings' recommendation—a $20 million bond to build innovation campuses in the state, and voters would approve.
How things would unfold between then and now would almost be sheer luck.
In 2018, leaders with the IBM Alpha Zone accelerator, a six-month program originally established in Israel, were on the East Coast to scope out where in the U.S. they might bring their accelerator. They had in mind to establish an American IBM Alpha Zone in either Boston or New York City. But during their travels, the IBM leaders found themselves in Newport, R.I.
"It was just by sheer coincidence," recounted Pete Rumsey, director of the Rhode Island Innovation Campus Initiative. The IBM team traveled to Newport for a cybersecurity conference, where they ran into some people from Brown University as well as other locals who would ultimately be involved in the Innovation Campus Initiative.
It was those conversations that led IBM Alpha Zone to a decision: It would bring the accelerator to Providence, in cooperation with fellow accelerator program MassChallenge. By December, IBM, MassChallenge, Brown and the University of Rhode Island were moving forward on the "Rhode Island Innovation Hub" with the help of $2.5 million from the proceeds of the innovation campus bond.
The vision was ambitious. The accelerators and universities, along with Raimondo's office, dreamed of a program that would allow any entrepreneur or innovator, from any background, a place in Rhode Island.
"They felt that there was no one place where you could go and find all the resources you needed to get a startup off the ground," Rumsey said. "MassChallenge Rhode Island was founded, and they really needed to have a convenient place, a physical as well as virtual location, to create a pipeline of startups that would join MassChallenge and IBM Alpha Zone and grow businesses in Rhode Island in target sectors. RIHub did that."
Today, RIHub is in the early stages of carrying out that original collaborative vision. Part incubator and part accelerator, with resources like mentorship and (eventually) events in its wheelhouse as well, RIHub is one of the cornerstone tenants at Point 225, the new building at 225 Dyer St. in Providence that is part of the Wexford Science & Technology Innovation Center development. Pointe 225 also houses the Cambridge Innovation Center and Venture Café and District Hall Providence.
"It's a one-stop shop for everything Rhode Island and innovation."
In another world—one without coronavirus—RIHub would have held a big launch event this summer. Instead, managing director Annette Tonti and her team have begun a rolling launch, starting by opening up the RIHub online portal to new members this week.
The online version of RIHub boasts several of the features that the physical space will set out to accomplish as well. Members can browse through people and companies in the Rhode Island ecosystem, post and RSVP for local events, compete or apply for funding and discuss all things innovation on a forum.
"It's a one-stop shop for everything Rhode Island and innovation that we are launching on behalf of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, educators and students," Tonti said. "Any citizen of Rhode Island can come out to the portal, take a look, be involved and then know what's going on."
Tonti has been developing the RIHub portal with her team for the last six months, but for her, RIHub is the realization of a dream she's held for much longer. Tonti is a serial entrepreneur in Rhode Island—"a difficult thing to do," she notes—having raised over $30 million in venture funding for three startups since the '90s.
"We've always talked about and complained that there's no one place to go to understand who's in the community, what are the events, what are the contests?" Tonti said. "We wanted this to be a place where entrepreneurs can come meet each other."
Since the beginning of the year, RIHub has also offered mentoring services to its members, including all the members of this year's MassChallenge Rhode Island cohort. RIHub acquired MIT's Venture Mentoring Services in late December and has since put in about 500 hours of mentoring for local entrepreneurs. All mentors are thoroughly vetted, and each of the mentors—there are now 66—chooses the startups they want to work with, ensuring that they have a personal stake in the companies.
Going forward, RIHub will also offer coworking packages to startups and put on programming with its various funding organizations: IBM, Brown, Commerce RI, MassChallenge, the University of Rhode Island and Arizona State University. Rumsey said RIHub will also point startup leaders to resources it is not directly affiliated with, like the accelerators Hope and Main and Social Enterprise Greenhouse.
"RIHub is kind of nonpartisan and brings all those resources together for any startup," Rumsey said. "RIHub also provides a safe space for those companies to incubate and really hit their stride and get funded. That was the vision and the inception story."
