NORTH LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An Arkansas nonprofit organization created to help budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into products they can sell was awarded a $1 million federal grant Monday to renovate and purchase a nearly century-old building where it's housed.
State, local and federal officials said the grant the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub is receiving from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will help the nonprofit as it assists new businesses with launching in Arkansas.
"This is truly an investment for the future, an investment that is critical to the continued revitalization of North Little Rock," Matt Erskine, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, said at a news conference. "Because, as we know, innovation and entrepreneurship are key to global competitiveness, new and better jobs for a resilient economy and the attainment of our collective national economic goals."
The hub offers training in areas such as computer programming and offers entrepreneurs ways to connect with potential investors for their companies and ideas. It has equipment that members can use — including 3-D printers and a wood and metal shop — to create prototypes of their products. The facility also includes an after-school program for teen artists to learn how to sell their products.
"If you have an idea, this is where you come to make it a reality," said state Rep. Warwick Sabin, the hub's executive director.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson praised the facility, describing it as something that complemented a measure he signed into law earlier this year to expand computer science classes in the state's public high schools.
"We've been short of ideas, we've never been short of vision but sometimes we don't have all of the capacity right here in Arkansas to put that into terms of real jobs, real income and real economic growth," Hutchinson said. "This innovation hub gives us that opportunity."