innovate arkansas

Winrock International and the University of Arkansas have been awarded a $2.15 million federal grant to launch a business accelerator in northwest Arkansas, it was announced Thursday afternoon.

The Arkansas program -- Launching the ARK:  Acceleration, Resources, Knowledge -- is one of 20 national winners of the $37 million Jobs & Innovation Accelerator Challenge launched earlier this year by the Obama Administration in an effort to spur job growth by supporting regional industry clusters. The challenge drew 150 applicants from across the U.S. 

Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville is a partner in the program.

Three federal agencies are investing funds to support the initiative - the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration and Small Business Administration, and the Department of Labor's Employment & Training Administration.

ARK will support information technology in three clusters in northwest Arkansas and surrounding counties in Oklahoma and Missouri: transportation and logistics (influenced by J.B. Hunt Transport Services of Lowell), food processing (Springdale's Tyson Foods) and retail (Wal-Mart in Bentonville).

The winning entry was able to leverage the success of Innovate Arkansas, a joint venture between Winrock and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission that nurtures high-tech startup companies in Arkansas. IA will help implement the program, which will focus on introducing new technology to the targeted sectors.

"The existing companies in these clusters are mature; they're more interested in expansion and growth," said Innovate Arkansas director Tom Dalton. "There hasn't been a high emphasis on innovation. Our thrust is, let's create a program that will introduce new technology."

Towards that end, ARK will introduce two job acceleration boot camps to northwest Arkansas, each lasting two weeks and each involving 15 startup companies recruited nationally for relocation to Fayetteville. At the boot camps, companies will develop intellectual property related to one of the three area industry clusters and compete for a $150,000 prize in addition to a contract from a local investor for implementation of that IP.

The two winning firms will be obligated to put down roots in Arkansas, and officials hope the other competing startups will be encouraged to do so as well.

The $2.15 million from the Innovation Accelerator Challenge will be spread over two years. The first boot camp will launch early next year and the second in 2013. Each firm selected for the boot camp will be awarded $15,000. Innovate Arkansas will provide three mentors to each firm and professional services such as legal and financial counseling.

In addition, IA will recruit $525,000 in private investment to help lure firms. Private investors will receive a 6 percent interest in all participating firms and a 30 percent cut of the winning startups.

While the search for firms will have a national scope, it will include Arkansas as well.

"There's already an innovative, entrepreneurial subculture in northwest Arkansas," Dalton said. "This will expand it greatly. The benefit for the whole state is that we'll introduce a lot of national people to Arkansas, so they can see what we have to offer."

Check out details of the competition here.