Helping Communities Shine

Whether researching and implementing ways to shape a community's economic development plan or partnering to create ways to put people to work, CREC connects researchers and policymakers with:

• Data training
• Custom portfolios that aid regional competitiveness

Project Profile

Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative Program Evaluation

U.S. Small Business Administration
Start Date: Oct 2019 — End Date: Sep 2020

CREC and Optimal Solutions Group are providing program evaluation services to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Performance Management on its Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative. SBA’s Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative was launched in September 2010, with funding now provided to 14 industry clusters across the country focused on geospatial technology products, water technologies, retail management and logistics, marine science technologies, autonomous and unmanned systems, defense technologies (e.g., surveillance, reconnaissance, small spacecrafts, and cybersecurity), fuel cells and energy storage, smart grid technologies, wood products, bioscience technologies, and flexible electronics. CREC and Optimal are developing an overall evaluation framework for SBA’s RIC, and assistance in designing new or clarifying existing measures and metrics.

About the Client

U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is a federal agency which provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.