Brown, EDC open R.I. center for entrepreneurs
4:30 PM Tue, Apr 28, 2009 | Permalink
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Providence Journal photo / Frieda Squires
Brown University's Clyde L. Briant, right, and Brendan C. McNally at the newly opened Rhode Island Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Brown University and the state Economic Development Corporation on Tuesday opened a training center for entrepreneurs, hoping to build innovative companies out of the rubble of the state's stumbling, industrial economy. Rhode Island could use the boost. The state's 10.5-percent unemployment rate, the worst level in three decades, is the highest in New England. But the 11 speakers at the grand opening Tuesday morning sounded relatively upbeat, noting that in its first day, the Rhode Island Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation had succeeded in bringing together political leaders, business executives and the leaders of universities and hospitals. "This is a great opportunity for us to pull together," Governor Carcieri said in the crowded atrium of 1 Davol Square, the Jewelry District building where Brown is housing the center. "Every large company started out as something small, some great idea." A review panel studying the EDC recently criticized the agency for failing to recruit businesses to Rhode Island. The new center reflects a different strategy: building businesses from scratch to generate high-wage jobs. In the beginning, the center hopes to mine the state's hospitals and universities to find would-be entrepreneurs. Already, the state's researchers are bringing in tens of millions of dollars a year in federal grants. It's time, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline said Tuesday, for their discoveries to sprout "spin off" businesses. "It is really the challenge of higher education, both public and private, to be immersed in economic development," Rep. Steven M. Costantino, chairman of the House Finance Committee, said at the ceremony. In the days before Tuesday's gathering, organizers such as Clyde L. Briant, Brown's vice president for research, dampened expectations for rapid job creation. But the center is not waiting to begin hosting events. On Saturday, even before its official opening, the center hosted Betaspring, a company that tutors technology entrepreneurs. On May 19, the leaders of similar centers in other states are hosting a workshop to "define the role and activities" of the Rhode Island center, known by its initials, RI-CIE. On May 21, Every Company Counts, the EDC's small business outreach program, is hosting an event at the center, where the Brown Forum for Enterprise is gathering June 17. "I think this will be a extremely active place," Briant said. 
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