FAQs & Key Definitions
Frequently Asked Questions
Black Innovation Alliance (BIA) is a coalition of 117 member organizations closing the racial wealth gap by building pathways that provide equitable access to resources, knowledge, and opportunities to Black entrepreneurs, tech founders and creative technologists.
To BIA, Ecosystem Building is the intentional cultivation of equitable access to resources, knowledge, and opportunities that enable the Black businesses and organizations to start, profit, and scale longterm.
BISO/ISO Stands for Black Innovator Support Organization and Innovator Support Organization Respectively. “ISO” is an inclusive term for organizations that place a heightened focus on innovation via such things as startup education and training, digital readiness, tech enablement, creative technology, venture investment and/or the rapid growth of tech-focused businesses.
Our people have the most culturally competent understanding of the issues Black entrepreneurs face. BIA focuses on empowering and equipping Black-led Innovator Support Organizations that provide access to knowledge, resources, and capital to Black organizations.”
Building ecosystems for Black innovators to thrive is how we close the racial wealth gap. It requires deep systemic, personal, and community evolution. BIA is creating a world of sustained Black wealth through our focus areas of Capacity building, Narrative Change, Advocacy, and Research.
Key Definitions
The innovation economy is an economic doctrine that reformulates the traditional economic growth model so that knowledge, technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation are positioned at the model’s center rather than seen as independent forces largely unaffected by policy.
Black Innovator Support Organizations (BISOs) / Innovator Support Organizations (ISOs) are not only Black-serving but also Black-led or Black-run. They emphasize innovation via startup education and training, digital readiness, tech enablement, creative technology, venture investment, and the rapid growth of tech-focused businesses.
Ecosystem builders are the people who facilitate and catalyze the flow of talent, information, and resources by focusing their work on building a system of support and resources for entrepreneurs in their communities or industries.
