The Small Business Administration marked the beginning of the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, focusing on national and economic security, domestic manufacturing and sustainability.
The contest will be divided into two stages for ecosystem-building activities and later the commercialization of winning innovations, SBA announced Monday.
Stage One of GAFC is now open to interested applicants, with a potential $3 million prize money to be awarded in April. The second stage will be a shortlist of candidates from the first round, with winners to be announced in September.
The theme areas range from defense to quantum computing, biotechnology, public health, renewable energy, supply chain, infrastructure resilience and agricultural technology and innovation.
“This year’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition builds on the success of last year’s competition, which successfully catalyzed bonds between local and national innovation ecosystem support networks,” said Bailey DeVries, associate administrator for SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation. The 2024 prize awards “will support entrepreneurs operating in undercapitalized and underserved markets with valuable resources in America’s innovation ecosystem.”