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Authorized by the Kentucky Innovation Act, the Cabinet for Economic Development's Department of Commercialization and Innovation (DCI) has been charged with leading the state's new economy efforts. By building and promoting technology-driven and research-intensive industries, the Cabinet works through DCI to create high-tech job opportunities and develop clusters of innovation throughout the state. DCI investments from 2002 to 2005 have created at least 842 high-tech, high-paying jobs. One of DCI's programs is Kentucky New Energy Ventures, a state program that administers $5 million in public funds for investment in promising renewable and alternative energy companies in the Commonwealth. Another initiative, Commonwealth Seed Capital (CSC), invests state funds to provide early-stage seed funding to facilitate the commercialization of innovative ideas and technologies developed in Kentucky. Another program, the Kentucky Enterprise Fund, provides seed-stage capital to Kentucky-based companies that are commercializing a technology-based product or process. The Foundation also administers the Kentucky Commercialization Fund program, which provides seed funds to Kentucky university's faculty members for commercializing products, processes, or services developed through research and development work undertaken at a Kentucky university, with awards not exceeding $75,000 each year. In 2018 alone, Kentucky trained more than 95,000 people and supported more than 5,000 companies. Kentucky is a national leader in the manufacturing sector, with more than 250,000 Kentuckians employed in the industry.
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