Public is encouraged to submit their bold and innovative ideas to secure a seat at the November 8th dinner.
The Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation (PDFF) will host the highly-anticipated 9th Annual Reinventing Delaware Dinner on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. This year’s dinner will be held at The Audion, the hub of the STAR campus located at the University of Delaware’s Newark campus. This bold move to Newark aims to further entice statewide participation in the program.
“This will be our first year hosting the dinner in Newark – a strategic move to increase participation from individuals in Kent and Sussex Counties for this statewide program,” said Stephanie Johnnie, PDFF Executive Director. “While we curate a guest list composed of a dynamic group of industry influencers and business leaders, anyone, regardless of their background or experience, can submit their innovative idea for an opportunity to be invited to the dinner,” said Johnnie.
Reinventing Delaware is a unique program that serves as a catalytic driver for innovators to incubate and launch their ideas through a proven process. The ideas selected are culled from the dinner and will be developed through the six-month idea-development program. All guests attending the dinner are required to pitch an idea that can create jobs and make Delaware a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Ideas can be conceptual, and the dinner serves as a creative outlet to release innovative approaches for private or social enterprises that will improve Delaware.
Successful ideas that have emerged from Reinventing Delaware include Zip Code Wilmington, Intern Delaware, Pay for Success, Wilmington Green Box, The Warehouse, and Delaware Creative Economy. The most recent finalists were highlighted in a public ceremony this past June. #Move2Delaware, Spotlight Delaware, Zero Homelessness, and Clean Hydrogen competed for the prestigious title of the Reinventing Delaware Top Idea of the Year. Clean Hydrogen, championed by Andrew Cottone, took home the title and $15,000 grand prize to keep moving the idea forward.
Cottone seeks to position Delaware as the first primarily clean energy state by building the nation’s first wind-sourced hydrogen electrolysis plant, generating profitable clean energy. The manufacturing plant would utilize fresh water in an electrolysis process that splits water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. The process leaves behind a bi-product that can be further processed and sold, leading to unprecedented economic growth for the state. In a recent interview with WDEL, Cottone stated, “…the entire [Reinventing Delaware] process, as an entrepreneur starting 20 years ago, gave me a lot more guidance – lessons that I learned the hard way. I’m really excited about the future entrepreneurs in the state of Delaware partnering with the Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation. They’re going to be able to avoid a lot of the mistakes I learned the hard way.”
This year’s idea submission window will be open from August 28 to September 30. Visit petedupontfreedomfoundation.org to learn more about Reinventing Delaware, this year’s winner, and the submission window. Sponsorship opportunities are available for both the dinner and the program. Contact Stephanie Johnnie at [email protected] to learn more.