As anyone who's ever tried to launch a tech startup knows, it takes a lot more than a good idea.
Penn State recently received a $500,000 federal grant to address just that challenge. The funds will advance the development of TechCelerator @ State College, a pre-accelerator specifically designed to allow technologists to explore entrepreneurship and commercialization pathways and arrive at educated go/no-go decisions. This program will not only result in $30 million in economic benefits, but will also catalyze a replicable rural innovation strategy.
“The TechCelerator Program, which has already produced dozens of success stories, provides an array of pre-launch business and market research services — or Boot Camps — designed to assist university researchers, grad students and local tech-entrepreneurs in converting their ideas into business realities,” explained Stephen Brawley, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners. “Our goal was to stimulate and ‘accelerate’ a sustainable, entrepreneurial pipeline and the model works.”
The grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce Regional Innovation Strategies program are part of a new initiative designed to advance innovation and capacity-building activities in regions across the country. TechCelerator @ State College is among the first 26 recipients.
“This region is fortunate to have a variety of assets, most notably in intellectual property creation from the cutting edge research conducted at the university,” said Heather Fennessey, director of Penn State’s Small Business Development Center. “Penn State's research expenditures have increased by nearly $500 million in the past 20 years. The opportunity for our potential economic growth, which can result from this increase in university-based research, is exciting.”
Source: Ben Franklin Technology Partners
Writer: Elise Vider