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Mayor Menino Launches Innovation District’s: Welcome Home Challenge

Oct 15, 2010

Mayor Menino announces that the City of Boston and Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations (STCI) will launch the Innovation District: Welcome Home Challenge. Existing businesses and new start-ups are invited to participate in this challenge, with the winning business receiving $25,000 from STCI to relocate to or expand in the Innovation District. Both established businesses and new entrepreneurs can compete by posting their pitch for their business on STCI’s public web portal (http://www.vencorps.com/).


“On the South Boston Waterfront, we are creating a hub of knowledge, creativity and inspiration – an Innovation District where new ideas, new businesses and more jobs will come to life,” said Mayor Menino. “The Welcome Home Challenge with STCI will add to our momentum, helping support a company to create jobs in Boston now and well into the future.”

Any business can submit its pitch on the web portal, and the public is invited to vote and comment on the pitches. Public feedback posted on the portal, which STCI is providing at no cost as part of its Open City Partnership with Boston, will significantly guide the selection of the winning business. Members of the public will be encouraged to identify those businesses that would be the best fit for Boston’s Innovation District, including a business’s growth potential; its ability to generate jobs at a variety of skill levels; the creativity and the boldness of its vision; its adherence to environmental principles; and, its ability to connect and strengthen Boston’s industry clusters.

The portal will be open for submissions starting on October 15 and will close on January 14. Based on public feedback, nine finalists will be selected, and one winner will be chosen on April 15. While the winner will receive $25,000, all finalists will be given tours of real estate opportunities about the innovation district and briefings on the City’s business development programs.

This challenge will mark the City’s first use of the STCI platform. The U.S. Department of Education and the White House Technology Office both currently use this platform to spark ideas for innovative policy. Boston will be the first city – and second government entity – to use this platform.

For more information on Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations, please visit http://www.stcinnovations.com/ and for more information on the Innovation District, please visit http://staging.innovationdistrict.org/.

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