Innovation Policy Experimentation and Research

The Ecosystem Development Division (EDD) in SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation (OII) has a need for program experimentation and research to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of its funding programs, specifically the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative. Program evaluation typically occurs after a program has been implemented while program experimentation is a real-time evaluation effort which increases the speed in which a program’s effectiveness can be studied. The use of both program evaluation and program experimentation will build a strong evidence base which EDD program staff can utilize to improve existing programs and design future programs.