This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to design a model and algorithmic approach and develop pilot software as a teaching tool for building proficiency in decision-making and analysis relating to economic and environmental impacts of new initiatives to support economic development planning for American Indian Reservation Communities. This work adds innovations in optimizing technologies, yielding capabilities for entrepreneurial education that do not currently exist. The software is anticipated to have widespread application for improving economic performance and quality of life on Native American Reservations.
The broader impacts of this research include the potential to: a) improve entrepreneurial education applications for economic development planning; b) support significant social and economic initiatives; c) design a more effective approach using simulation and optimization techniques to economic planning; d) develop and market commercial-grade software that may be applied to other high-risk, highly complex development environments; e) attract downstream funding from sources including private capital firms, non-government agencies, and business alliance partners as it significantly increases economic performance; f) add to the body of knowledge in education applications, economic planning, and decision sciences that may be leveraged to enable additional research and development.
Tribal governments and indigenous communities are investing increasing sums of money in economic development master plans and business development studies. Nevertheless, tribal leaders and native entrepreneurs have lacked an educational, interactive, decision-support tool capable of evaluating the myriad investment options they are confronted with, while accounting for wide-ranging goals and constraints that are unique to their situation. Through Phase 1 funding, OptTek completed the basic research necessary to develop a model, methodology, and pilot software application, OptDev, simulation and optimization technology to meet this need. In collaboration with our subcontractor, Spirit of the Sun, and with the participation of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, OptTek has been able to effectively demonstrate the "proof of concept" for the OptDev technology. Through close collaboration and software trials with the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation of NE Washington, as well as meetings and conversations with the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and ACKCO (Native American Professional Services) we confirmed that OptDev has broad value potential due to the following: Tribal governments and Tribal Colleges are in need of dynamic, interactive educational tools that engage current and future leaders in the analysis and exploration on of trade-offs and complexities inherent in investment decisions. No existing economic development planning tool on the market allows for the incorporation of non-financial, user-defined goals and constraints. Economic Development planning is often done in piecemeal fashion. Economic Development professionals understand the need for coordinated, comprehensive planning, but currently lack a tool capable of supporting such complex decision making. Our Phase 1 collaborations and research confirmed that OptDev would satisfy these customer requirements given that the software: Allows users to quickly and easily model numerous, unique combinations of goals and constraints enabling a wide range of hypothetical situations to be explored for both educational and real-world purposes, and Provides outputs which support easy visualization of the tradeoffs between portfolios - each optimized according to a unique set of goals and constraints (e.g., financial, environmental, cultural, etc). These outputs can be compared, side-by-side, sparking discussion, analysis, and more informed strategic planning. OptTek and Spirit of the Sun also jointly designed the key elements of a curriculum supporting the adoption and use of the OptDev software. The course curriculum is meant to be adaptable to different learning audiences (e.g., employees of a tribal economic development agency, students at a tribal college, newly elected tribal council members, etc.) and includes the following essential elements: Basic Business & Financial Analysis Data Gathering & Research Setting Goals and Prioritization Developing Effective Business & Financial Plans Entrepreneurial Decision Making and Portfolio Theory Basics of Simulation & Optimization Understanding Risk & Uncertainty in Portfolios Usage of the Tool Resource Development & Project Implementation Considerations The tight linkage between the training curriculum and the software tool is an essential component of the offering. During the pilot phase, it was found that the training curriculum and software reinforced each other and that customers felt they would not derive the full value from the offering without both components. SUMMARY Through Phase 1 funding, OptTek completed the basic research necessary to develop a model, methodology, and pilot software application, OptDev, meeting a need on Native American reservations and in International Development circles for an educational, interactive, decision-support tool capable of evaluating numerous investment options against unique, wide-ranging goals and constraints. In collaboration with our subcontractor, Spirit of the Sun, and with the participation of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, we have been able to demonstrate the "proof of concept" for the OptDev technology, proving the value potential of the product and determining specific enhancements that would broaden OptDev’s applications and customer base SBIR Phase 2 funding for the continued build-out and commercialization of this unique offering would make it possible to realize the demonstrated benefits of our system on an expanded scale, to provide a tool whose features for educational support and interactive decision planning go far beyond anything offered by other initiatives in this domain
