ITAC’s Experience Running a Similar Grant Program

In 2019 and 2020, as part of the overall Ops21 program, ITAC developed and ran the grant program. Ops21 was a multi-faceted program designed to help NYC manufacturers learn about and adopt advanced technologies. To lessen the cost of implementation, the program provided grants to NYC manufacturers to implement advanced technologies in the areas of digital manufacturing, materials, and robotics. Ops21 Grant funds were generously provided via the Futureworks NYC Ops21 program, which was funded by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and led by ITAC.

What was ITAC’s role to make all this happen?

NYCEDC provided the funding and had approval input in the process; ITAC designed, built and ran all aspects of the execution of the program, from the outreach phase through to the grant award, monitoring and final impact report phases.

ITAC’s responsibilities included:

• Outreach – communicated the grant opportunity to eligible NYC manufacturers.
• Application – created and ran the external facing application process, including all online content and associated communication (eligibility criteria, website, social media etc.). Manufacturers submitted their applications via SurveyMonkey.
• Selection Process – established criteria with partners for the review of applications and put in place a structured evaluation process including both quantitative and qualitative input. Established a cross-functional, multi-partner selection committee to complete the selection process for each application.
• Grant Execution – created and executed official grant agreements with all manufacturers selected for an Ops21 grant.
• Grant Issuance – after receiving funds from EDC, managed fund disbursements to manufacturers receiving Ops21 grants.
• Grant Project Monitoring, Final Reports and Case Studies – monitored progress of Ops21 grant projects for each manufacturer. Upon completion guided manufacturers to complete a standardized, structured final report detailing the project and impacts. Also guided the completion of external facing case studies.

What type of impacts did manufacturers realize as a result of these funded projects?

The impacts of the grant projects were far reaching including but not limited to: new jobs created and/or retained, new sales channels opened, cost savings from increased efficiencies/ process improvements, new capabilities and increased revenue generation. See the case studies button above on the right to learn more.