Michigan no longer a flyover state for venture capital
While Michigan has become a hot spot for startup funding, Detroit has been boiling in recent years, according to a new Michigan Venture Capital Association study. The 2017 Detroit Entrepreneurial Study revealed Detroit’s startup community has grown 50 percent in the past three years, now making up a quarter of the state’s fledging companies. Last year, 14 of […]
John Hopkins, U Maryland, Plank Industries team up on business accelerator to target health and fitness technology companies
new startup accelerator program based at the Johns Hopkins University’s FastForward East will target companies developing health and fitness technologies. Hopkins is teaming up with the University of Maryland, Plank Industries, Brown Advisory and the Abell Foundation to launch the 16-week program, called M-1 Ventures, in September. “I see all these accelerators out there and they’re cool,” […]
McGill University’s X-1 Accelerator receives $2 million from John Dobson Foundation
The McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship has received a $2 million donation from the John Dobson Foundation, which supports entrepreneurial development in Canadian universities. The funding, which will be spent over a 10-year period, will be used to fund and support the centre’s McGill X-1 Accelerator, an intensive 10-week summer program dedicated to accelerating and […]
Listen Up: Nobel Laureate on Who Should Fund research at universities
A recent report by the World Economic Forum states that India had 2.6 million new graduates with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) in the year 2016, next only to China, which stood first at 4.7 million. The numbers are not surprising, considering the ample career options available for those with a […]
Through Accelerators and POC Programs, Cape Town is Battling its Nation’s Economic Woes to Become Africa’s Tech Capital
South Africa is suffering an economic crisis. Growth has slowed to 0.3%, its slowest since 2009, and unemployment is at a 14-year high of 27.7%. Manufacturing and agricultural job markets have shrunk. The government is now South Africa’s largest employer. But the gloom has accelerated a shift towards entrepreneurialism and tech, that has been concentrated […]
Do federally funded programs help boost innovation at universities?
Likely, there isn’t anyone reading this column who doesn’t have an opinion about what the federal government should and should not pay for. It seems there are numerous federal programs that could probably be cut or reduced without having a negative impact on economic growth. However, the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the […]