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REI's 2022 Project Foci Areas
Soon the U.S. EDA University Center for Regional Economic Innovation will be hosting its call for 2022 projects – and we want to hear from you! All projects must fit one or more of these four categories, including 1) resiliency planning, 2) financial resiliency, 3) 21st-century communications, and 4) circular economies. Projects must focus on asset-limited, income-constrained populations within opportunity zones and/or those Michigan Economic Development Corporation identified “Redevelopment Ready Communities."
Within those parameters, the following topical areas have been crowdsourced from REI stakeholders throughout 2021 and, with the help of our Consultative Panel, ranked by priority of likelihood to help create jobs and/or new businesses within Michigan. The topical areas for proposal consideration are: housing, childcare, broadband, energy production, extended producer responsibility, incentivizing transformative regional change, worker cooperative models, regional tax-base sharing, employee ownership models, communities built for the labor force, and public company quality reports.

REI research assistants are working hard to put together the new applications and we will soon have these available online. Stay tuned for further updates and put on your thinking caps! We will be looking for strong applications that fit these guidelines and continue to offer student-led/faculty-guided practicum experience, co-learning plans, and innovation fellowships.

To learn more about the projects REI funds, click the image above or the button below!
Michigan Inventor's Coalition - Inventor's Summit
Are you a garage inventor? Have a great idea you want to hatch? Get involved with the Michigan Inventor’s Coalition today and learn about amazing opportunities - such as the 2021 Inventor’s Summit. From Oct. 13-16th, this four-day virtual event hosted guests from across the country featuring industry, product, inventor and investment experts. Culminating in an invention pitch competition event, four MI winners walked away with test market education and free crowdfunding training from CrowdFund Better. Soon they will take the next step and set up crowdfunding campaigns through Mainvest – a platform for building communities and utilizing personal networks for capital. With almost 300 attendees, most inventors also enlarged their networks while gaining critical feedback and additional fund tools. Be a part of this growing momentum and learn more about both taking your product to market and crowdfund investment by staying current on future opportunities through MIC social media.