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<h2> Regional and local economic development efforts<br /> </h2>
<p><b>InnovateND</b>, put on by the North Dakota Department of Commerce, is the largest and most public program for assisting in economic development via startups and innovation- it says so right in the name. The purpose of InnovateND is to provide a full kit of assistance to an idea- planning, investing, market research, etc... all of this is <i>assisted</i> and counciled counseled by connections through InnovateND. It is, of course, still up to the entrepreneur to do the grunt work. In an effort to increase the utility and usefulness of the program, InnovateND recently made a key change to their program, shifting from a 'venture competition' to an educational and entrepreneurial experience.
</p><p><b>Start-up Weekend</b>, a 72 hour event focused on rapid creation, maturation, and launching of business concepts. It targeted primarily at application/service development, as 'engineered' ideas generally require far more time and work to become market-viable.
</p><p>The <b><span class="st">Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation</span></b> focuses on the 50,000ft view of developing Fargo/Moorhead as a whole. While it may not get involved in nurturing any specific business, what it does do is work to provide a vibrant and growing environment ripe for business creation and expansion. While this may not sound quite as flashy to an entreprenuer-to-be, it is nonetheless extremely important to ensure startups have the ability to survive.
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<h2> Other </h2>
<p><b>Take-Away message</b>: NDSU and Fargo Moorhead have yet to get huge innovation momentum going, but the environment, people, and resources are falling in to place to make it happen in the near future. A fair amount of opportunities exist but there is yet to be a good program to aggregate and advertise them to students.
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