Strategy1 is excited to announce a new effort and partnership to facilitate growth and acceleration of the optics and photonics ecosystem in Arizona. On October 3, 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) award to the SBAI Consortium to achieve this goal.

This award of $500,000 for the base year, with up to four option years of $500,000 each will further the success of the previous RIC contract. This contract will enable SBAI to increase the effectiveness of programming and operations to reach more small businesses and strengthen existing and new partnerships in the cluster. The overall goal is to help small companies scale up and grow as well as strengthen the overall optics ecosystem.

SBAI will accomplish this by bring together innovation from artificial intelligence applications, a smart business diagnostic, and partner integrations, coupled with performance metrics.

SBAI is a consortium of Tucson companies, led by Brain Bridge, Strategy1 and Vector Reports. Additional partners and providers include OppsSpot, StartUp Tucson, and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI), as well as other ecosystem supporters such as the City of Tucson, Pima County, Pima Community College SBDC, Optics Valley and the Southwest Center for Optics and Photonics (SCOP).