Innovation Incentives and Startup Support
Innovation Incentives and Startup Support helps Rhode Island businesses and entrepreneurs fund research, technology development, and commercialization to bring ideas to market and increase competitiveness.
Funder: Rhode Island Commerce Corporation
Due Dates: November 3, 2026, at 5 p.m. EST (Innovation Voucher)
Funding Amounts: Up to $75,000 (Innovation Voucher); up to $5,000 (eligible patent expenses); up to $6,500 per intern (STAC Internship Program)
Summary: Rhode Island Commerce connects businesses and entrepreneurs with funding and resources for research, technology development, and commercialization.
Key Information: Innovation Voucher applicants must have 500 or fewer employees, be registered in Rhode Island, and have 51% of employees in-state.
Description
Rhode Island Commerce’s Innovation Incentives Portfolio supports businesses from early-stage research and development through commercialization. It connects state and federal funding opportunities to help entrepreneurs, inventors, and evolving small businesses bring ideas to market and increase competitiveness. Support includes R&D partnerships with local knowledge providers, internal manufacturing R&D, grants to business-support intermediaries, assistance for businesses pursuing federal SBIR/STTR awards, and eligible patent-related expenses.
The Innovation Voucher program funds strategic R&D investments that advance new products, processes, services, and scalable solutions. Alongside funding, Rhode Island Commerce and its partners connect ventures with collaborative research partnerships, talent, laboratories, prototyping facilities, coworking spaces, and incubators. These resources support innovation from ideation to scale, with an emphasis on business growth and Rhode Island’s innovation ecosystem.
