Closed: Knowledge Sharing Network for Entrepreneur Mentoring
Procurement Number: 2017-JAII-01
Date Issued: September 21, 2016
Date Due: October 27, 2016
Status: Closed
The Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“MassTech”) is releasing this Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for the creation and pilot of a new, statewide Knowledge Sharing Network for the different organizations providing entrepreneur mentoring and related entrepreneurship support programs across the Commonwealth. Through this competitive solicitation, the Innovation Institute will make an award to an eligible organization for up to $175,000 over a maximum of two years for the purpose of designing, planning, and activating this pilot Network.
The new Knowledge Sharing Network will aim to better connect, engage, and cultivate the community of mentoring and related entrepreneurship support organizations across Massachusetts. It is intended to be inclusive and responsive to service providers’ common needs for networking and best practice sharing. Since MassTech issued the first competitive mentoring grants through the MassTech Innovation Mentoring Initiative in 2013, more organizations are expressing interest in and taking steps to support entrepreneur mentoring and others are gaining experience, maturing, and refining and/or growing their programs. As the level of activity around supporting entrepreneurs with mentoring and related services has increased across the state, the opportunity has grown for more practitioners and leaders on-the-ground to learn from each other, share resources, and collaborate around their programs to collectively strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystems statewide. The purpose of a new entrepreneur mentoring Knowledge Sharing Network is to address this unmet opportunity.
The Innovation Institute is pleased to be partnering with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) in the efforts around this new Knowledge Sharing Network, as part of the EOHED’s efforts to support community based innovation. These efforts are centered on the core belief that communities across the Commonwealth want, and need, to fully participate in Massachusetts’s nationally-leading innovation economy. The Knowledge Sharing Network is part of that strategy that not only builds out the spaces and provides the tools, but ensures that the best practices and methodology that best support the budding entrepreneur in all sectors and all municipalities are applied statewide.
We welcome all interested, qualified individuals and/or nonprofit, nongovernmental entities to apply by responding to this RFP.
Full details on this RFP can be found in the PDF linked below.
Request for Proposals for Knowledge Sharing Network for Entrepreneur Mentoring
RFP No. 2017-JAII-01
Procurement Team Leader: Henry Fields
RFP Issued: 9/21/2016
Questions Due: 10/7/2016
Answers to Questions Posted: 10/14/2016
Responses Due: 10/27/2016 by 3 p.m. (Closed)
Eligible Applicant Presentations: As Requested by Mass Tech Collaborative