Levan Center Awarded $742,787 for its Founder’s Journey Program
FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. – Since the Alan B. Levan|NSU Broward Center of Innovation opened just over a month ago, it has been very busy hosting programs and helping fulfill its three themes (innovation, technology, entrepreneurship) and four pillars, known as the Founder’s Journey (Ideate, Incubate, Accelerate, Post-Accelerate). And now the Levan Center has another milestone in its short history – it has received a grant totaling nearly three quarters of a million dollars to support its programs.
“We have a very clear mission and receiving this grant will help us deliver on the Founder’s Journey,” said John Wensveen, Ph.D., NSU’s Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Levan Center. “Our goal is to nurture an innovation ecosystem right here at NSU that puts Broward as the hub of innovation for South Florida, and this grant will go a long way in helping us do just that.”
NSU’s grant, which totals $742,787, is part of the “Build to Scale” program, which is administered annually by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). The program aims to accelerate technology entrepreneurship by increasing inclusive access to business support and startup capital. The Build to Scale program was comprised of two competitions – the Venture Challenge and the Capital Challenge., with NSU’s grant falling in the Venture Challenge category. These grants are designed to help leverage regional competitive strengths to accelerate innovation and job creation through high-growth technology entrepreneurship and fostering inclusive access to proven entrepreneurship support models.
The Levan Center Founder’s Journey programs range from four to 16 weeks in length, with a special focus on Broward County’s defined targeted industries as these have been identified as the high-wage/high-growth sectors. These targeted industries include aviation/aerospace, financial services, global logistics, headquarters, life sciences, manufacturing, marine industries, and technology. Funding will be used to secure facilitators for the various modules, provide wraparound services (i.e., legal, marketing, finance, accounting), Gust software tool, and for personnel to oversee the project. The goal of the Founder’s Journey is to produce breakthrough ideation, new technologies, job creation, new company formation, and scaling of early-stage and young startup companies.