Mission & Objectives

Modeled after the World Bank's Development Marketplace - a successful program that's been adopted by numerous developing countries across the globe - Alaska Marketplace aims to inspire rural Alaska residents to pursue their creative ideas to stimulate economic development by providing monetary awards and business support to winning participants.

Unlike most federal grant programs, this groundbreaking ideas competition fosters innovation and promotes culture as the basis for development. Every finalist will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and business skills, and the top entrepreneurs will leave the Alaska Marketplace with the resources and investments necessary to launch their new businesses.

Marketplace Objectives

Alaska residents possess strong cultural traditions, a rich history of innovation and a powerful capacity to adapt to changing conditions. The Alaska Marketplace leverages these qualities to promote economic development by:

• Providing new opportunities for rural communities to generate incomes through their own cultural knowledge.
• Catalyzing local-level development to encourage communities to employ their diverse social, cultural and economic resources.
• Promoting conservation and generating revenue from existing assets, that is, reviving village centers, conserving natural resources and generating sustainable tourism revenues.
• Strengthening social capital by providing marginalized groups a basis to pursue activities that enhance their creativity, capture positive energy and to strengthen respect for diversity and social inclusion.
• Diversifying strategies of human development and capacity building for knowledge-based, dynamic societies, e.g. through support for local publishing, library and museum services.

Alaska Marketplace aims to catalyze rural economic development through innovation by supporting new businesses that draw upon cultural systems and customs - such as the performing arts, crafts, tourism and heritage preservation, fishing and other regional activities.