Recently, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the grantees under the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s 2019 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program competition. F³ Tech was announced as one of the i6 Challenge grantees receiving $468,500 in federal funding in addition to $469,960 from a local matching grant.
The dynamic Farm-Fish-Food (F³) Tech Program is focused on elevating agriculture and aquaculture through innovation and technology, utilizing the unique geographic characteristics of the region. The program was started in 2017 as a Maryland initiative to strengthen the rural-urban collaborative environment throughout the State.
The overall program consists of three stages that provide entrepreneurs, innovators, startups, and existing businesses with the resources to achieve proof-of-concept and commercialization of new product and service ideas and innovations.
F³ tech aims to revolutionize the agri-tech and aqua-tech spaces, and propel economic and job growth in Eastern and Southern Maryland regional innovation clusters. It anticipates the creation and support of 9 new firms in total by the end of the grant period. Potential outcomes would also result in a wide range of benefits affecting the State of Maryland, as cohorts are developed between rural and urban connections throughout other regions.
Read the EDA Announcment at eda.gov