Update: 'Knowledge economy' grants awarded
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and the City of Providence on Wednesday morning handed out $150,000 in grants for 11 projects promoting the "knowledge economy." The grants range from $2,500 to support a symposium on biofuels at the University of Rhode Island in May, to $20,000 to help URI and Johnson & Wales University to study how to make seafood supplies for restaurants and retailers more sustainable. "These are real investments to help grow some of these ideas," said Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline. "Providence is poised in a way no other city is poised to leverage this knowledge economy. This will distinguish good cities from great cities." The grant winners are: The Providence Fab Lab, $10,000 from the chamber and $10,000 from the city. The lab, whose name is short for fabrication laboratory, is a project in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that gives people training on and access to computers used in product design. Beta Spring Micro Seed Venture, $10,000 from the chamber and $10,000 from the city. The company runs 12-week boot camps that help take entrepreneurs from being teams of people with an idea to being a company ready to obtain venture capital funding. Sustainable Seafood, $20,000 from the chamber. Online Student Portal, $18,000 from the chamber. The project will develop a Web site that will connect students with internship opportunities and provide employers with recruiting tools. Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, $10,500 from the chamber and $5,000 from the city. The money will help establish a center that will help turn research and technology from colleges and universities into commercial products. Knowledge Retention Symposium, $10,000 from the chamber. The money will help plan a symposium about how to keep students who earn degrees in high-tech disciplines in Rhode Island to build the economy. Virtual Green Resources Center, $16,000 from the chamber. The state chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council will develop a Web site with information about environmentally sensitive building practices that also serves as a center for "green" products, services and events. Biofuels Summit, $2,500 from the chamber. The money will help pay for a conference on biofuels to be held at URI in May. Green Economy Session at Business EXPO 2009, $2,500 from the chamber. The money will pay for a session at the expo to focus on green economic initiatives, including biofuels. Rhode Island Innovation Network, $20,000 from the city. The program will help inventors turn their ideas into commercial products. Expand the Green Collar Workforce, $10,000 from the city. The money would expand workforce training programs for jobs in environmentally sensitive industries. 
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Cicilline: Our citizens are so unknowledgeable that we have nowhere to go but up.
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RI has always had a 'knowledge economy'. Ya gotta 'know somebody' to get a grant.
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