Government funding, as well as nonprofit and other avenues, all help fuel scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship. 

“It’s been a rough year-and-a-half if you’ve been someone who’s really caring about these funds.”

Jason Rittenberg, Excel Regional Solutions

But panelists at Technical.ly’s Builder Conference said the challenge is not just finding money, but also convincing decision-makers that innovation funding deserves sustained attention. For Janani-Flores, former US Economic Development Administration chief of staff, that argument starts with framing innovation as more than a local economic perk.

“There is this offensive part where we [seek] to make investments across the country to both strengthen our national security and emerging technologies,” Janani-Flores said of her work. 

That more aggressive drive “builds the economic power of regions and communities,” Janani-Flores said, “and, hopefully, all parts of that community.”

Jason Rittenberg of Excel Regional Solutions in Delaware, Ohio, and Ifeoma U. Aduba, executive director of Entrepreneurship Funders Network in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, joined Janani-Flores on the expert panel to share their own insights. 

Rittenberg chimed in with caution on celebrating the level of funding opportunities for innovation from the Trump administration, referencing, for one example, how funding engines essentially froze as the Department of Government Efficiency began slashing programs. 

“It’s been a rough year-and-a-half if you’ve been someone who’s really caring about these funds,” Rittenberg said. 

In the nonprofit space, it can also get tough, according to Aduba.

“I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for 30 years at this point and there is a really deep culture of scarcity and competition that sits in the space no matter what your area is,” Aduba said. 

Much of the tension between funding sources comes from weighing the consequences of immediate issues versus longer-term economic development, Aduba said. 

Fund managers often have to choose between giving cash to something like domestic violence funding that could prevent a headline-grabbing tragedy, or the longer game of funding entrepreneurship that may not see the same flashy payoffs.

“There is a reason you need both,” Aduba said, “because you could save this person’s life, but they are not going to be able to thrive if you haven’t built up these other supports.”

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