Regional Innovation Clusters (RIC) Initiative Evaluation Study

Appendix C-6 Cluster Administrator Survey Introduction E-Mail

Dear Cluster Administrators,

We invite you to fill out the attached Cluster Administrator Survey, which will be instrumental in our evaluation of the [n^th] year of SBA's Regional Innovation Clusters (RIC) initiative. Please start by reading over the Instructions worksheet as it contains important information about how to complete the survey.

As discussed in the initial announcement of this year’s RIC surveys sent on [insert date], please start by completing the roster of large organizations (in the Large Organization Info tab) and small businesses (in the portion of the Small Business Info tab with blue headers) participating in the cluster. The partially complete cluster administrator survey containing just the two rosters will be used to disseminate the participant surveys, and should be returned to Optimal by [insert date]. The remainder of the cluster administrator survey does not need to be completed and submitted to Optimal until [insert date]. To return this spreadsheet to Optimal, simply save it in an easily accessible location that you will remember, and send it as an attachment to [email protected].

Your participation in this survey is voluntary; however failure to respond may be a violation of the terms and conditions of your contract with SBA. The survey is expected to take no more than 120 minutes to complete. You are not required to respond to this survey unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control (or Approval) Number. The number for this survey is 3245-XXXX.

Please note that the attached survey uses the newer format of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx). If you are using Microsoft Excel 2003 or earlier and are having any issues opening the file attached, please contact us and we will provide you with the survey in legacy format (.xls).

If you have any questions or experience technical difficulties accessing or submitting the survey, please contact us at [email protected] or toll free at 1-800-970-2487.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.