Closing Remarks, Day I

Foreign. Hello again. What an amazing first day. Thank you all for being part of the day's conversation. As a recap, we kicked off the morning or early afternoon with a welcome from Administrator Guzman, followed by a fascinating fireside chat discussion with Bailey DeVries as we learned about the CHIPS in Science Act. For those who didn't know, since the act was announced, we've actually seen more than $231 billion in private sector dollars announced in the space. And despite the large players that are known out there, it's also highly recognized and was discussed the panel how much those small companies are providing towards that extraordinary innovation leading to success that we see with chips.

And then we discussed the impact of COVID recovery programs on local innovation ecosystems with SBA's very own mark Madrid, the Department of Treasury's Jessica Milano and Kathleen Warner, all moderated by Joseph Perilla. And Kathleen Warner shared her perspective of an organization that was funded by the federal government and I was very excited to hear that. It sounds like maybe we, you know, the federal government is actually doing what we're trying to do, which is a great job of supporting equitable access and more holistic planning with plenty of feedback loops between the federal decision makers and you, our partners on the ground. Then we got to hear from agency representatives and rural ecosystem builders Obum Ukebomb, Pete Nelson, Anna Lucas and Don Ufford as they shared the strengths and challenges and opportunities they've seen in trying to support rural entrepreneurship. During this session we also saw an amazing comment from an audience member. So thank you for engaging in the chat. They were joining us from a small rural town in Colorado with less than 1,000 people. And really what that reminds us is about the importance of sharing lessons learned across all the different entrepreneur support organizations and building relationships across communities so that we can support each other.

Love it, Jen. We're discussing SBA's Growth Accelerator Fund competition, also known as GAFC. From the point of view of them being 2023, stage one and stage two awardees, a huge win for the new GAFC structure is that the way it enables this creation of partnerships across the country with other esos has just dramatically increased. So the panelists today emphasized how GAFC encourages and incentivizes this collaboration instead of competition across ecosystems. Then in another session we heard from Eric Page Littleford, Mary Larkin, Josh Nicole Caddy, Amy Whitney on America's Seed Fund and ESO collaboration. Well, they all shared many stories. Lessons learned on the dynamic partnerships between ESOs in their regions, how they navigate different cultural attitudes and even infrastructure for different technologies, whether it's in Nebraska, North Dakota, or in government with Barda.

And in the third breakout session, we really delve deeply into captivating stories from from esos with Eldon Hawks, Jerry Hollister, Keishla Tirado, and Tulinda Larson covering everything from the funding they receive to provide support synergies across different types of programs, as well as some concrete tactics for working with entrepreneurs that are looking to get support from America's Seed Fund by applying to the SBIR STTR programs. But our last panel discussion of the day, which we just closed, highlighted ways of going beyond federal resources to really connecting with the state and local support for your innovation ecosystem. So moderated by Stacy Swider and hearing from the expertise and perspectives of Jason Rittenberg, Tony Sardella, and Jen Kim, who leads that work of 4 SBA on the ground nationwide. I will say I personally loved hearing that the federal government can be more daring than state governments, sometimes taking some risk to be the first money in there, even though this is not a competition. And I love that we can build off each other, federal, state, local, and support each other for more lift and leverage. Right. So this whole day has been incredibly informative, inspiring, and energizing for me at least. So I really hope that it's the same for you. And a really big thank you to everyone here, all of our speakers, our moderators, and of course, all of you. But you know, I. I think maybe there was something that we probably should have started with at the beginning of the day. Right? This is the Innovation Ecosystem Summit, and we know that we have a lot of people who may not have engaged with our ecosystem network in the past. So what is is this ecosystem that we keep talking about? It is not the traditional green kind of ecosystem, but I'd love to take a page from the late, great Pavala, who is an incredible ecosystem builder and supporter, and let you know her definition. Ecosystems are interconnected networks of organizations, resources, and people working towards a common goal or sharing a common identity. And we are so excited that we were able to bring together all of you to work toward an even stronger, more interconnected national network. We're organizations that are doing different things, whether we're federal agencies, state agencies, and of course, different audiences, different methods. But for us at sba, we are incredibly grateful for all of you working together on this shared goal of supporting small business owners and future entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life in whatever way we can to support all of these people.

Thank you, Jen, for sharing that it is the foundation of what has created so many of these efforts at SBA across the agency, as you've heard from many of our colleagues, but specifically within the Division of Ecosystem Development that I'm thrilled to support here now in the Office of Investment and Innovation. We look forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow beginning at noon Eastern. Of course, there will be pre summit networking again starting at 11am Eastern, so hop in early to connect with one another. And there's also an opportunity to meet each other right now before we say goodbye for the day during our virtual networking happy hour time. There's no fixed agenda, just time for people to connect that may wish to do so. I would love it if you went and shared what you love today, what you learned and definitely how you hope to move forward. So thank you so much. Thank you Jen and everyone else here. We will see you tomorrow. Bring your friends, those across the ecosystem that you might want to be your friends and partners, and we will continue together. Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye.

See you tomorrow.