What federal funding applications in innovation tell us about the future of economic development in North Carolina

Abstract

In this new era of place-based development, RTI wanted to understand what the promising ideas and strategies are for North Carolina, as determined by the innovators, entrepreneurs, and policymakers at the local and regional levels. Using application records from the NSF and the EDA, RTI reviewed the 39 applications from North Carolina-led coalitions and analyzed 1) the location of proposal leads, 2) the geographic reach of proposed projects, 3) the type of organizations included in the proposals, 4) the industries of focus, and 5) the extent to which applications centered equity or entrepreneurship (see Appendix A for the methodology used) to understand how regional leaders from across the state and in different types of organizations view North Carolina’s economic development potential through a lens of innovation.