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New Initiative to Help Innovation in Southwestern Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, PA - Helping the region to become a hotbed of innovation is the goal of a new initiative launched today by the Riverside Center for Innovation (RCI), North Shore's full-service hub for start-up and early stage companies. "Our ten years of experience in helping small businesses at Riverside has shown us that even the brightest ideas are unlikely to succeed unless they fulfill customers' unmet needs, and at a price those customers are willing to pay, " says Emily Buka, Executive Director of RCI. "Inventions or new products and services by themselves are not enough evidenced by the high rate of business failures that we have experienced first hand. We need to help entrepreneurs "innovate" by matching new products or services to a clearly defined unmet need", " Buka said. "Only then can starting a new business be less of a gamble." The goal of RCI's initiative is to be sure the right set of services and resources to support innovation are available in the Pittsburgh region. First, RCI will undertake specialized research to help pinpoint what organizations need to improve their success in innovating. As part of the research, RCI will be testing its own menu of potential services for innovators. Results of the initial research will be available by April, 2003. "For example, one concept we'll test is a "work tank" that we can host at our business incubator on River Avenue in Pittsburgh," Buka said. " With the work tank, we can provide suitably designed physical space and key resources that organizations can use to work through the innovation process. Our research will tell us if this idea adds value and motivates organizations to innovate, or not. It will also help us discover other opportunities to support innovation that we could only guess about otherwise. So, before we invest dollar one in creating the work tank, we'll know clearly if it will be a winner. We'll also learn if there are other services innovators need of even greater value." New entrepreneurs, early stage companies and established organizations adapting to change will be tapped in the research. An important feature of the study is RCI's "call" to entrepreneurs. To help identify candidates for participating in the research, and benefiting from RCI innovation services, RCI is broadly circulating a request for interested individuals to register with RCI through its website. The registry can be accessed at: www.riversidecenterforinnovation.com. "Encouraging and enabling people with new product and service ideas has been a long standing challenge in Southwestern Pennsylvania, " Ms. Buka says. " Often, it's difficult for entrepreneurs to get attention for their ideas. Our registry is an easy-to-access place where people can tap into helpful resources simply by signing on. And it will help us move this important research forward, a benefit to many of the region's entrepreneurs-present and future." RCI's plans include research to determine what kinds of innovation support services are of interest in the region's outlining communities. This is in addition to a pilot project which will put the ideas of a few organizations through the science-based business opportunity development process. The process, unique to RCI, incorporates current understanding and best practices in innovation. Also, RCI plans to expand the initiative to include the not-for-profit community. "Non-profit organizations actually have a greater need to innovate than for-profit organizations. As with start-ups and emerging companies, the stakes for innovation can be extremely high in a not-for-profit organization. Resources are often very limited. So, a non-profit simply can't risk taking a casual approach to innovating, or the hit-or-miss approach that is so characteristic of most organizations, " Buka notes. The RCI research is being underwritten, in part, by the New Communities Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. "The Commonwealth has long recognized the importance of innovation to the growth of our region's economy, especially when it comes to supporting the efforts of entrepreneurs and new companies, " Buka said. "The State's partnership with the RCI comes at an important point as we struggle with a sluggish economy. Actually, an economic down period is a good time to pursue ways to more successfully innovate when people are more adverse to risk and time and money are very tight. So, making the most of ideas and investments with the least amount of risk becomes crucial". This initiative is the first of its kind since RCI changed its name from North Side Civic Development Council, owner/operator of the small business incubator, Riverside Commons Innovation Center. The agency became the Riverside Center for Innovation in mid-2002. At that time, it broadened its mission to encouraging and enabling enterprise as well as expanded its service area to Southwestern Pennsylvania.
For further information: Return to RCI Worktank |
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