CFED
Stay Informed!
The Inclusive Economy
Preliminary Findings: 2010 Application Cycle
By Sean Luechtefeld on 05/11/2010 @ 06:29 PM
As many of our readers know, April 15 marked the deadline for applicants to submit their ideas to be considered for Innovators-in-Residence and Innovative Ideas, the signature program elements of innovation@cfed. Of course, there are still opportunities available to those who missed the tax-day deadline. Monday, May 17 is the deadline for Next Generation Innovators and International Ideas, while the deadline for Innovative Entrepreneurs is Tuesday, June 15.
While we’re still in the thick of the review process for Innovators-in-Residence and Innovative Ideas, I thought I’d share with you some of what we know about our pool of applicants. Where are innovative approaches for expanding economic opportunity coming from? What are people on the cutting-edge of expanding economic opportunity working on? Some of these questions can be answered, at least in part, by looking at our applicant pool profile.
Where are innovative ideas coming from?
Not surprisingly, the most-represented state is California. About one in every five submissions were from innovators in the Golden State. We also saw a strong showing in the Northeast/New England region.
Overall, the group of applicants are geographically diverse. They represent over 30 states and five different countries on three different continents. The chart below illustrates the distribution of applicants, by region.
In what areas are innovators working?
On the application, we asked people about the area in which their idea is concerned. Applicants could indicate multiple areas, so we collected robust data about the ideas and how they connect with one another. The most popular focus of innovation was financial. Between Innovators-in-Residence and Innovative Ideas, 56 applicants indicated their idea feel into the “financial” category. The next most popular foci of innovation were Entrepreneurship, Community and Jobs, respectively.
What is the stage of development of these innovations?
Idea submissions ran the gamut of stages of development, some existing in the very earliest stages of conception and others tested, proven and ready to be brought to scale. This factor has been very important to us – innovation@cfed is built on the premise that we act as the pipeline for the development of ideas. In order for our platform to succeed, we must work to develop ideas in their formative stages, as well as ideas that are well beyond conception. Overall, the most commonly selected stage of development was “somewhat developed and pilot tested in at least one setting.”
That’s just a taste of what we’ve learned. Every time we sit down together to review these wonderful ideas, we’re so impressed with the quality of the innovative approaches out there and we learn more and more every day. Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing more information about the applications as it becomes available!
Copyright © 2012 CFED – Corporation for Enterprise Development 
1200 G Street, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 202.408.9788
Powered by ARCOS | Design by Plus Three
Comments
Leave a Comment