As many of you have heard, the White House’s Startup America initiative has selected Pittsburgh as one of eight site visits in which senior administration officials will meet with local entrepreneurs in hopes to further spur economic growth.

The roundtable event will be held on Thursday, April 28 from 9:00 a.m. to noon at a location to be confirmed.

While the White House will ultimately decide on the final list of 150 participants, if you have experience in one of the following industries—Energy,?Environment, Software/Technology/Robotics, Healthcare, Manufacturing–and would be interested in attending this event, we urge you to submit a request, as each of these industries will be a focus of a breakout session.

To submit a request, send an email with “Pittsburgh” and one of the five industries above in the subject line to reducingbarriers@sba.gov. Also, copy rharris@chatham.edu and rlunak@innovationworks.org to be considered to be part of this conference.

Include in this email:

? Name
? Contact information-email, phone, address
? Business information
? Explanation of why you should be considered to participate in these roundtables
? Which session/industry you would like to participate in (same as above)

We encourage you to apply as quickly as possible. If you are selected to attend, you will be contacted by the White House directly.

More about the event:
Dubbed “Startup America: Reducing Barriers Roundtables” the proposed roundtable setting will enable entrepreneurs to identify and discuss outdated and cumbersome federal barriers and restrictions that currently inhibit growth. Input collected from these eight sessions will be highlighted in the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) response to an Executive Order from President Obama requesting the recognition and simplification of these barriers.

Chatham University’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, in cooperation with resource partner SMC Business Councils, is working with the Western PA SBA District Office to coordinate this event. They have asked Innovation Works to extend an invitation to our partner organizations.

Image via flickr/C. Young Photography