The projects - ranging from health care and work force development to entrepreneurship – were chosen by the Innovation Providence Implementation Council from a pool of 35 proposals and are funded through the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, the city of Providence and The Rhode Island Foundation.

The grants are the third round of funding for IPIC, which previously awarded 11 grants in April 2009 and nine grants in March 2010.

“We have continued to find new engines of growth for our economy and despite a challenging economic backdrop, we have maintained our commitment to invest in the people and ideas that will reshape our economy,” said Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber. “These continued investments are undoubtedly enabling our community to move forward in identifying opportunities for growth that take advantage of Rhode Island’s world-class business, entrepreneurial, health care and academic institutions.”

The grant recipients are:

Implementing smartphone technology for radiation oncology error prevention: $23,580. Project principal investigator: Edward S. Sternick, Ph.D, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rhode Island Hospital, and Bruce Curran, project co-principal investigator.
Eulie LLC: $23,100. Julie Sygiel, CEO and founder. A Providence-based startup that developed and now sells a line of underwear called Sexy Period that is made with leak resistant fabric and is designed for women to wear as backup protection during their period.
Medical device innovation summer internship program: $20,000. Adam Leonard, president and CEO of Diavibe LLC. The program, running from May 31 to Aug. 19, will allow undergraduate students interested in medical device development to collaborate with clinical and industry mentors to grow their concepts.
Dormcubator: $17,500. Dan Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island. A pilot six-week program, beginning in June, that will offer paid internships and academic credit to 12 students from 10 colleges or universities with two tracks, entrepreneurial and corporate.
Building a social entrepreneurship ecosystem: $15,000. Kelly Ramirez, director of Social Venture Partners Rhode Island. The funding will go toward three programs: 10 fellowships for the SVPRI incubator, support to build an SVP-University fellows program for local students, and to seed a speaker series for the Change Place incubator.
Creating affordable co-working space in the Knowledge Economy: $5,000. Brendan McNally, director of the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The grant will go toward sustaining RI-CIE’s incubator to increase programming, purchase equipment and furniture, and functional co-working space.
Health care and medical devices technology showcase: $5,000/ Katie Gordon, managing director of Brown Technology Ventures Office. The showcase will be held at the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Oct. 12. Its goal is to raise visibility and enhance investment in the research, development and translational programs underway in Rhode Island in the life sciences area.

Noticeably absent from those providing financial support is the State of Rhode Island itself, a point made by several speakers during Wednesday morning’s award presentation, held at the Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence of Johnson & Wales University in Providence.

White, after the proceedings, told Providence Business News that the state was approached for financial support, but none was provided.

“We think it is important that all the private and public sector partners” take part in the funding process, said White. She held out the hope that the state will find a way to offer support for the next round of awards. No date has been set yet for what will be the fourth round.

Recipients of the Knowledge Economy Grants were chosen from 35 proposals worth more than $700,000. The grant program is part of an initiative, started in 2007, to bolster and grow the region’s knowledge economy sectors – health care, technology, research and design, and alternative energy.