The new state-funded business booster Innovate Washington is doing some innovation of its own, having created a public-private partnership while keeping staff dispersed instead of establishing a single central office.
The organization, born last August through a merger of Seattle-based Washington Technology Center and Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, is charged by the Legislature with building the state’s innovation-based business sectors. So far, its major focus has been on creating a structure and searching for funding sources other than state government to extend its reach.
On the organizational side, Innovate Washington is guided by a 13-member board of directors appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire. That board, which so far has held just one meeting, includes Rep. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, as its only Southwest Washington member. It is responsible for keeping Innovate Washington focused on its mandate from the Legislature, which provides about $2.7 million in annual funding, said Kim Zentz, Innovate Washington’s chief executive officer and former Sirti executive director.
Under the new public-private structure, the program is staffed by the Innovate Washington Foundation, a private nonprofit with its own board of directors. That foundation now has 13 employees, including Bart Phillips, former president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, who in December was named Innovate Washington’s vice president of economic development. Zentz said she anticipates significant growth in the foundation’s staff.