Envisioning a New Tomorrow: Supporting Innovative Business Ideas to Transform Delaware

November 4, 2022

Every year since 2014, the Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation (the Foundation) hosts its entrepreneurial incubator program, Reinventing Delaware. It starts with its annual pitch competition event, where 100 people showcase their best idea for creating jobs and making Delaware a better place to live. After several rounds of voting and post-event review by key members of the Delaware business community, the Foundation selects the most innovative ideas to advance to the scoping phase of the program. 

As an official partner of the Foundation, Social Contract facilitates scoping workshops to further evaluate the top ideas for their innovation, sustainability, and overall benefit to the Delaware economy. This process helps identify the top three ideas that will advance to the six-month development phase of the program. During the development phase, each champion is paired with a separate scoping partner to receive coaching and assistance to further develop and actualize their idea. 

This year, Social Contract paired with the Delaware Creative Economy, championed by Angela Wagner, Esq. For six months, Social Contract facilitated a comprehensive discovery and design process with Angela and several members of the existing creative industry in Delaware to produce a final report that outlines an implementation plan and workforce development strategy. A key recommendation in the report includes the design and launch of a backbone organization to serve as a liaison between the entertainment industry and the current groups in the state working to bolster the creative economy. More specifically, this backbone organization will convene stakeholders, break down silos, advance key initiatives, and foster entrepreneurship to collectively build an ecosystem that will make Delaware a hub for arts and culture. Along with the report, Angela produced and submitted a short video with Jet Phynx Films to answer a set of questions from the Foundation, including questions about the value of services provided by the scoping partner. 

After the multi-staged evaluation process, Foundation board members reviewed the deliverables and selected the best idea to create jobs and improve Delaware. On September 22, 2022, the Delaware Creative Economy was announced as the winner of this year’s Reinventing Delaware Program. Social Contract is proud to partner with Angela and serve as the official scoping partner for the Creative Economy idea. A win for the Creative Economy is a win for Social Contract, but more importantly, a win for the entire state of Delaware!

When asked about receiving the prestigious award, Angela said: “From the beginning, my intent was to amplify the voices of individuals in the local community who are already doing this work and leverage the Reinventing Delaware platform to highlight the immense opportunity to build a stronger creative economy and bring new jobs to Delaware.“

Angela further explained: “There’s no reason for neighboring states like New Jersey to out-compete Delaware in attracting major production companies like Netflix to set-up shop. We have the talent and the landscapes for film to thrive in Delaware, we just need the infrastructure and support. The creative economy is a multi-billion dollar industry and we [as a State] are not even thinking about this as a viable option – I see that as an opportunity. While Delaware needs to compete in attracting new business in the creative economy, we also need to support the creative businesses that are in Delaware now to ensure they can thrive in their own state without going elsewhere.” 

Social Contract is proud to support Angela and the Delaware Creative Economy and excited to watch the idea continue to grow. If you have an idea for how to make Delaware a better place to live and work, connect with us!