Gannon University officially announced Tuesday that the school would be receiving a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.
The grant will go toward funding the Innovation Beehive Network. Gannon is partnering with three local universities: Edinboro, Mercyhurst and Penn State Behrend.
The four universities will cover different aspects of business in order to guide entrepreneurs and business owners. It will also provide jobs to people in Erie.
Gannon will provide business consulting in conjunction with the Erie Technology Incubator (ETI) and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), both located in the Center for Business Ingenuity (CBI).
Penn State Behrend, which started the first Beehive, will assist in product development in its Innovation Commons.
Edinboro will provide help for all startups and small businesses with advertising, marketing and public relations strategies. Lastly, Mercyhurst will assist in business intelligence, providing insightful information and design to businesses.
President Keith Taylor, Ph.D., and the leaders at the local universities are doing something great for the Erie community.
Not only will the Innovation Beehive help those of all ages chase their dreams of opening their own business, but it will help fill a need in Erie, a need for employment.
Students in the field of business will have a new opportunity to pursue, whether it’s working for one of the nodes or utilizing their services to start their own businesses.
It will also keep people in Erie and attract more businesses, which can only help the city get better. For more information, go to gannonknight.com for a full story later in the week.