Last night, the state Economic Development Corporation approved the first applications for the Innovation Tax Credit. The companies may now offer investors a credit of up to $100,000 off their individual state income-tax bill in return for their investments.

The recipients include Bionica Corp., Lighthouse Security Group, Ocean State Solutions, Providence Health Solutions, Public Display and Tizra ...

...Ellen Frank, senior economic analyst at the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, said the Innovation Tax Credit should also be subject to intense scrutiny to judge if it truly generates jobs and increases tax receipts...

...“This is exactly the time we should be putting together a bold agenda for our economy,” [Saul] Kaplan said. “We have to reposition our economy.”...

...Kaplan said the program’s success will be easy to measure because tax credits will be awarded only if the companies bring in new investments. In their applications, the first participants said they planned to hire a total of 300 employees in the next five years.