Business Entrepreneurship for Young Adults
SparkLab Alpha
Technology is the single most important ingredient for building and nurturing a thriving, prosperous, and growing economy.
What
Hands-on STEM education, training and development for young adults and activities that include workshops, coaching sessions, expert panel discussions, on-site visits, and networking events focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and global business impact.
Why
We strongly believe the path to growth is through the modernization and industrialization of our economy and we can only achieve that by positioning a 5 pillars model of our economy; knowledge, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation.
How
In continuous collaboration with a network of prestigious local and global strategic partners, we actively engage in scientific and technological strategic STEM programs and initiatives designed to fuel entrepreneurship and innovation in our region.
- Knowledge
- Technology
- Entrepreneurship
- Leadership
- Innovation
We focus on the development and implementation of innovative STEM programs.
Louisiana Economic Development Foundation (LEDF) is an independent multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary Non-for profit 501(c) 3 Science & Technology foundation. We focus on the development and implementation of innovative STEM program such as: “SparkLab Pro” The purpose of “SparkLab Pro” is to fuel innovation, entrepreneurship, as well as social and economic development in our communities.
Connecting the supply and demand sides of innovations
United by a deep concern for the future vitality and competitiveness of our local and national science and technology industry (STEM), we strongly believe that the correct path to grow is through the modernization and industrialization of our economy.
Our long-term agenda will require us first to train and educate our workforce with the skills necessary to compete in the Global Economy.
The Foundation for Science and Technology provides a unique platform for the design and implementation of science, research, technology or innovation elements. It is a registered charity and a registered company, and was established in 2010.
The Foundation finances its activities by a mixture of subscriptions from member Organizations, part-sponsorship of its events, and grants and donations. This enables it to run most of its activities free of charge for participants.
Governance
As a registered charity, the Foundation is overseen by a Trustee Board chaired by Dr Koji G Ono. The Trustees also act as Directors of the company. The Trustee Board is accountable for all of the activities of the Foundation.
The Foundation’s Chief Executive Rene Rosenthal is responsible for delivering the strategy agreed by the Trustee Board with advice from the Council.
The Council is an advisory board with senior representatives from Government, parliament, industry and the research community. It has a mixture of individual appointments and some ex-officio members, as set out in the Foundation’s Articles of Association.
The Foundation also has a Vice-President, the former Chief Executive, Dr Kasuo N. Kondo.
- Boeing SLS
- NASA
- Textron Systems
- DMG Mori
- Globalstar
- U.S. Air Force
- HP
- Oracle
- Foxconn
- Microsoft
- Airbus SE
Programs
With the current global economic climate, it seems apparent that the now established education system is unable to meet the needs of our hyper-connected society a society that is in a constant state of evolution. This educational system is essentially built to create assembly line workers and that the system is exceptionally ill-prepared to meet the needs of today’s professional.
Today, entrepreneurship education efforts exist at all levels of education across the U.S and overseas. While this progress is impressive, it is still quite limited. The vast majority of Americans, and especially American youth, still cannot easily access entrepreneurship education training and resources.
SparkLab Alpha, SparkLab Pro & SparkLab Omega are affordable programs designed to strengthen and improve our nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.
The program exposes participants to a variety of hands-on activities that include workshops, coaching sessions, expert panel discussions, on-site visits, networking events besides the academic fundamentals in class. Participants discover eye-opening insights and learn about entrepreneurship, innovation, and global business impact directly from the industry experts.
To learn more about SparkLab view the different programs below:
From Strategy To Implementation
SparkLab Pro
The Road To Venture Capital
SparkLab Omega
LEDF is committed to furthering technology-based economic development initiatives that accelerate high quality job growth, create more economic opportunities, and support the future of the next generation of industry leading companies. To advance these goals, LEDF Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship awards grants through the Build to Scale Program for activities designed to develop and support regional innovation initiatives.
LEDF thereby advances the growth of connected, innovation-centric economies that increase job growth, enable the workforce of tomorrow, enhance global competitiveness, and foster global competitiveness through technology commercialization and entrepreneurship.
“Our goal is to support building the foundation for future science and technology,” said Rene Rosenthal, CEO of LEDF Science & Technology Foundation. “We hope to make a lasting contribution to the society by advancing basic science, bringing innovations and redefining the technology industry.”
SparkLab Pro & SparkLab eVO
Bringing together start-ups and “entrepreneurs” to work and speed up the process of their innovative ideas into valuable businesses models.
SparkLab Pro & SparkLab eVO are affordable programs designed to strengthen and improve our nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.
Leadership
Why Innovate?
- Despite evidence to the contrary, many companies hold uninformed opinions about innovation and how it relates to them. These include, for example, that innovation only applies to small companies, or to products not services, or that it cannot be managed or measured, or always requires new technologies. These are myths.
- Innovation provides a source of competitive advantage. Whether through incremental new developments to a product or a big leap forward, innovation involves the creation, selection and efficient delivery of new ideas to allow companies to outperform their competitors by being the quickest and smartest to grasp new technological opportunities, create unique propositions and deliver compelling new products and services.
- Innovation is significant in both good times and bad. In times of economic growth, new ideas, products and services are the lifeblood of sustained increases in revenue and profitability. In a recession, innovation is no longer an option to add value and deliver competitive advantage, but a core means of survival in an increasingly selective market.
Louisiana Economic Development foundation (LEDF) is an independent multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary Non-for profit 501(c) 3 Science & Technology foundation. Under Rene Rosenthal Leadership and his team, the organization successfully secured a strategic STEM collaborations with Boeing SLS, NASA, Textron Systems, DMG Mori, Globalstar, U.S. Airforce, HP, Oracle, Foxconn, Microsoft and Airbus SE the European multinational aerospace corporation. We have taken the first historic step, this powerful collaboration will allow us to bring these giants to the city of New Orleans, for the first time said Rene Rosenthal. We coded name the festival “TechNOLAgy”, and in August 21-23, 2013 in collaboration with UNO University and government officials the technology festival took place at the Lindy C. Boggs International Conference Center – University of New Orleans.
August 21-23, 2013
Lindy C. Boggs International Conference Center – University of New Orleans
August 28, 2014-15
Xavier University’s University Center
September 14-16, 2016
New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
What is Technolagy? As the most innovative international science and technology show in New Orleans, Technolagy is a communication and business platform, it has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies in recent years. The global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the market. The event includes corporate members involved in innovation and entrepreneurship as well as the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, and integration of consumer electronics products.
Message from CEO
“Our commitment is to support building the foundation for future science and technology. We hope to make a lasting contribution to our communities by advancing basic science and helping the entrepreneurs bringing innovations to reality.”Rene Rosenthal
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”Warren Bennis
“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”Alexander the Great
