Build to Scale (B2S) Grants Program for Entrepreneur-Support Organizations

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U.S. federal competitive grant program providing funding to organizations strengthening regional innovation ecosystems and supporting technology-driven entrepreneurship and startup creation.
What are the main aims and objectives?

The primary objectives of Build To Scale are to build capacity for entrepreneurs and innovators to invent, improve, and bring to market new technology products and services; to accelerate the growth of regional economies focused on industries of the future; to empower communities to enable technology innovators and entrepreneurs to pilot and test their products and services; and to equitably and inclusively increase access to capital for technology-enabled entrepreneurs. More specifically, B2S aims to support high-growth, technology-centric entrepreneurship and stimulate innovation, increase economic prosperity, and create high-skill, high-wage jobs; to increase access to entrepreneur-ready, equity-based capital by providing operational support for early-stage investment funds, angel networks, and investor training programs; to advance regional economic competitiveness through new product innovation or new technology adoption; to enhance research commercialization processes and outcomes; to remediate structural barriers that inhibit regional innovation capacity and resilience; to leverage regional competitive strengths to stimulate innovation and job creation; to support proven technology-based economic development initiatives including proof-of-concept programs, commercialization programs, and venture acceleration platforms; to foster inclusive and equitable access to entrepreneurship support models across diverse geographic regions and communities; and to establish sustainable, regional innovation ecosystems enabling long-term economic growth and competitiveness.

How does the program work?

The Build to Scale Program seeks to build regional economies through scalable startups, and is comprised of three separate grant competitions for entrepreneur-support organizations:

1. Venture Challenge (formerly known as the “i6 Challenge”): seeks to support entrepreneurship and accelerate company growth in communities, regions or combinations of regions. The Venture Challenge awards grants to intermediary organizations like accelerators, universities, and non-profits supporting new business ventures that are:

  • scalable by nature,
  • challenging the status quo of markets,
  • commercializing technologies, and;
  • furthering job creation

2. Capital Challenge (formerly known as “Seed Fund Support”):

While early access to capital is crucial for startups, but can be difficult to obtain outside traditional startup hubs. The Capital Challenge seeks to increase access to capital in communities where risk capital is in short supply, providing operational support for:

  • the formation, launch, or scale of investment funds that seek to invest their capital in scalable startups
  • organizations with a goal to expand capital deployment within a community, region, or regional industry (i.e. angel networks or investor training programs)

3. Industry Challenge: provides $4 million in funding to pilot a new Industry Challenge, which seeks to support entrepreneurship and accelerate company growth within the Blue Economy for the fiscal year (FY20) cycle.

For the purposes of this Industry Challenge, the blue economy includes freshwater as well as marine activities, and can include lines of business directly connected to oceans, rivers, or other freshwater and marine waterways. Sectors may include, but are not limited to, aquaculture, irrigation, filtration, water-technology, offshore wind, or marine conservation. Eligible entities are those seeking to:

  • support commercialization of these technologies
  • improve competitiveness of these startups
  • increase connectivity and collaboration between these stakeholders
  • leverage the blue economy to support innovation and job creation

The following entities are eligible B2S Program grant recipients:

  • a State
  • an Indian tribe
  • a city or other political subdivision of a State
  • an entity that is a nonprofit organization
  • an entity that is an institution of higher education
  • an entity that is ia public-private partnership
  • an entity that is a science or research park
  • an entity that is a Federal laboratory
  • an entity that is a venture development organization
  • an entity that isan economic development organization or similar entity
  • an entity that is has an application that is supported by a State or a political subdivision of a State
  • an entity that is a consortium of any of the entities described.

Applicants must provide a minimum of one-to-one (i.e. 50% of the total project) in matching share for all challenges. Applicants must demonstrate that this matching share (cash, in-kind, or a combination of cash and in-kind contributions) is available, unencumbered, and committed to the project.

EDA has promulgated regulations that provide additional guidance on eligibility.

What is the overall cost?

Build To Scale has received substantial and growing annual federal appropriations:

  • FY 2014-2021: Approximately $100 million cumulative across the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program predecessor
  • FY 2022: $45 million appropriated for two competitions
  • FY 2023: $53 million appropriated (the largest award cycle)
  • FY 2024: $50 million appropriated
  • Cumulative Total (FY 2014-FY 2023): Over $270 million in federal grants across 437 awards over ten award cycles
How was it implemented?

Build To Scale was created in response to federal recognition that sustained economic development required deliberate investment in regional innovation ecosystems and technology-based economic development capacity. The program was authorized under Section 27 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, providing legal foundation for federal investment in innovation and entrepreneurship support.

The Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program, predecessor to Build To Scale, was formally launched in Fiscal Year 2014 with initial federal appropriations supporting competitive grants to regional organizations developing innovation capacity. The program combined two predecessor programs—the i6 Challenge (supporting proof-of-concept and commercialization) and Seed Fund Support (supporting early-stage venture capital fund development)—into unified framework.

From FY 2014 through FY 2019, the RIS program grew substantially, with cumulative appropriations exceeding $100 million supporting 224 awards across 48 states and two territories by end of FY 2019. The program demonstrated consistent Congressional support and growing demand from applicant organizations, with application rates increasing annually as awareness of program opportunities expanded.

In February 2020, the Economic Development Administration rebranded the Regional Innovation Strategies program as "Build To Scale" (B2S) to better reflect program objectives of enabling high-growth entrepreneurship and regional economic scaling. The rebranding accompanied clarified program structure and expanded focus on equity and inclusive access to entrepreneurship support.

Following rebranding, B2S received increased Congressional appropriations: $40+ million in FY 2020, $45 million in FY 2022, and $53 million in FY 2023. The program implemented modernized competition structure including explicit tiers, outcomes measurement requirements, and enhanced focus on underserved communities and equity.

In FY 2024, EDA consolidated two previous competitions (Venture and Capital Challenges) into single "Implementation Challenge," simplifying application process while maintaining core program goals, demonstrating ongoing program refinement based on implementation experience.

Timeline

Please note that the B2S Program was named the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program until 2019.

2010: The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 enabled the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) to lead the RIS Program to spur innovation capacity-building activities in regions across the nation. 

2010: The i6 Challenge, was launched in 2010 as part of the Startup America Initiative. It was then included in the 2014 Regional Innovation Strategies Program.

2014: The RIS program was effectively launched in 2014 as portfolio of grant competitions.

2019:

  • EDA completed a program evaluation of its performance during the 2014-2017 period.
  • The Department of Energy partners with the Department of Commerce's EDA to pilot a new grant competition (Industry Challenge) during the fiscal year (FY20) cycle.

2020: 

  • The name of the program was changed to Build-to-Scale.
  • On September 16, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that 52 organizations — including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and entrepreneurship-focused organizations — from 36 states will receive grants totaling $35 million to support entrepreneurship, acceleration of company growth, and increased access to risk capital across regional economies. Grantees were selected from a competitive pool of more than 600 applications.

Documents of the program over its history from the government are available, here. 

What impact has been measured?

EDA completed a program evaluation in 2019 to determine whether the program was achieving its goals and to determine ways the program can improve. The evaluation concluded that EDA’s 2014-2017 implementation of the program:

  • “has provided critical funding that would have otherwise been impossible for participants to raise and access” and
  • “should be continued as a vital catalyst for supporting state and regional innovation.” 

Reported impact as of 2019: 

  • Entrepreneur-support organizations reached: Through six national competitions the program has solicited more than 1,300 proposals from across the country. It has awarded grants across 224 projects.
  • Cumulative investment: The Program has awarded $100 million in grants, matched by over $115 million in community dollars.
  • Economic impact: Collectively, these grants have helped create over 14,200 jobs and driven more than $1.6 billion in follow on investment capital into startups and new venture funds. 

2020:

  • The 2020 awardees leveraged an additional $44 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources.
What lessons can be learned?
  • Tiered funding approach accommodates ecosystem diversity: The B2S structure with Ignite, Build, Scale tiers enables organizations at different development stages to access appropriate funding levels, suggesting graduated funding approaches accommodate diverse regional innovation ecosystem maturity.
  • Matching requirements leverage private sector resources: Mandatory 50% matching funds enable public investment to mobilize substantial private capital, with evidence showing approximately 1:1 leverage ratios, suggesting co-investment requirements effectively crowd in private sector participation.
  • Geographic distribution addresses regional equity: Awards distributed across 36 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico (FY 2023) demonstrate that explicit federal funding commitment enables innovation infrastructure development in underserved regions previously dependent on private sector capital that was often geographically concentrated.
  • Long-term sustained funding supports ecosystem building: Cumulative $270+ million across ten years demonstrates that sustained, multi-year federal appropriations enable organizations to build durable innovation infrastructure rather than temporary project-based work.
  • Inclusive access requires explicit program design: Program emphasis on equity and inclusive access, particularly in 2024 consolidation and modernization, suggests that achieving inclusive entrepreneurship support requires deliberate program design elements rather than occurring automatically.
  • Competition-based allocation drives quality: Competitive peer review and evaluation processes, with awards to high-quality proposals, suggest that competition-based allocation of public resources improves proposal quality compared to formula-based or first-come-first-served approaches.
  • Congressional support sustains through political change: B2S sustained bipartisan Congressional appropriations support across administrations (Obama, Trump, Biden), suggesting that programs demonstrating effectiveness and serving diverse geographic constituencies maintain political support despite partisan transitions.
  • Outcomes measurement requirements build accountability: Five-year outcomes reporting requirements (Form ED-917) provide basis for systematic impact assessment and program accountability, though comprehensive aggregate analysis of outcomes data is not publicly available.
  • Limited comprehensive impact data constrains learning: The absence of published comprehensive evaluation documenting aggregate outcomes across all 437 grantees over ten years limits evidence-based assessment of program effectiveness and optimization opportunities.
  • University participation drives research commercialization: Numerous university recipients (including UTRGV, Rice, Baylor, Georgetown, others) suggest that integrating higher education institutions into B2S structure effectively mobilizes university research commercialization capacity toward entrepreneurship support.
  • Regional consistency enables scaling: The rebranding from RIS to Build To Scale and modernized competition structure (2020-2024) demonstrates that standardized program frameworks enable consistent implementation across diverse regions while preserving flexibility for local adaptation.
  • Consolidation of competition categories improves accessibility: The FY 2024 consolidation of Venture and Capital Challenges into single Implementation Challenge demonstrates responsiveness to applicant feedback regarding application complexity, suggesting that program simplification can improve accessibility without sacrificing program depth.
Notes + Additional Context

One of the recommendations which the Start Us Up Coalition included in America's New Business Plan is for the U.S. federal government to develop inclusive entrepreneur support mechanisms, given that one of the biggest advantages for an entrepreneur with a new idea or business is getting support from skilled professionals, such as through strong networks, cooperative platforms, co-working hubs, and highquality incubators and accelerators.

Excerpt detailing this policy recommendation (see page 16):

"Government should support the growth and development of those methods and others to connect entrepreneurs with helpful people and tools. Policymakers should:

  • Develop competitive grants to modernize the 63 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and more than 900 service locations, with a focus on facilitated learning through connections and peer support in entrepreneurial ecosystems.
  • Create pay-for-success models that provide federal support to organizations that serve entrepreneurs when certain agreed-upon benchmarks are met, such as the number of new businesses created, ease of accessing appropriate capital, increased revenues, new jobs created and sustained, and underserved areas and populations reached.

Supporting Evidence:

  • About a quarter of black (26%) and Latinx (24%) first-year business owners have only one or fewer other business owners in their network.
  • Recent analysis found that the introduction of accelerators to a region has a significant impact on the number of early-stage deals for new businesses, and these deals are driven primarily by the emergence of local, new venture capital firms." 

CURATED BY

Jason Wiens

Policy Director, Entrepreneurship
Ewing Marion Kauffman Fundation
United States