NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, & NOTICES
Alleghany Journal - The 5th Year of The GAUNTLET in the Alleghany Highlands
The Advancement Foundation's Annette Patterson spoke with the Journal on Tuesday, December 21, 2021 about the 5th year here for the Gauntlet, an entrepreneurial program of business development and competition which has received high praise from hundreds of its previous
Innovation Mill Accepting New Applications
CALLING ALL INNOVATORS – Innovation Mill powered by The Advancement Foundation is offering no fee Business Development Services to new or early stage high growth potential businesses.
CALLING ALL INNOVATORS – Innovation Mill powered by The Advancement Foundation is offering no fee Business Development Services to new or early stage high growth potential businesses. High Growth Potential: growth rate potential of 25% a year, potential to attract 5-% of revenues outside the region, potential to produce higher wage jobs – a focus on new information and emerging technologies, food and beverage manufacturing, life sciences & healthcare, and manufacturing.
NOW Accepting NEW Applications. Complete your Needs Assessment to see if you qualify today!
GO Virginia Region 2 has renewed funding to The Advancement Foundation (TAF) to continue expansion of the Innovation Mill, a project focused on increasing the birth rates of new/early stage potential high growth companies.
Innovation Mill supports early stage businesses in high-growth industries by providing next level resources, proof of concept, market research, industry expertise, and higher education networks in order to prepare for scaling both regionally and nationally. GO Virginia is a statewide initiative designed to encourage Virginia’s economic growth through the creation of high wage jobs. GO Virginia Region 2 includes cities of Covington, Lynchburg, Radford, Roanoke, and Salem; and the counties of Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Roanoke.
Innovation Mill Igniters (participating companies) complete early work through the Innovation Mill and are able to prove their concept. Some companies are then referred to next level resources across the ecosystem such as RAMP, CIT and others. The success of the Innovation Mill Project exceeded year 1 goals and led to renewed GO Virginia funding to expand efforts.
To prove their concept, Innovation Mill entrepreneurs will be guided through several stages which may include: 360 evaluations, Business & Innovation Development Teams, Customer Discovery, Industry expertise, Higher education and/or investor feedback. Companies may work alongside fellow entrepreneurs, industry experts, and their own Business Innovation and Development (BID) team to innovate, pivot, and expand their company.
Innovation Mill is led by Simone Knowles (Director of Business Innovation & Community Expansion), Annette Patterson (President of The Advancement Foundation), and Debbie Custer (Innovation Mill’s lead consultant on Commercialization). Innovation Mill was the brainchild of Annette Patterson who saw an opportunity to encourage regional innovation and talent with a full support system for getting through those early stage barriers in order to prepare for accelerators or eventual funding.
Said Annette Patterson, “Our goal is to catch new/early stage potential high growth companies, shorten the learning curve, provide pathways to resources and expertise, prove concepts, and then get them to the next level resources such as the SBDC, SCORE, RAMP and other resources that support entrepreneurs in our region.”
For a link to the needs assessment/application you can go to this link
Original article found here.
NRV News - Innovation Mill powered by The Advancement Foundation is NOW accepting Applications
The Advancement Foundation is seeking applicants for its Innovation Mill program to assist new or early stage businesses with high growth potential.
The Advancement Foundation is seeking applicants for its Innovation Mill program to assist new or early stage businesses with high growth potential.
Simone Knowles, director of innovation and community expansion for the Innovation Mill, said the program can serve businesses in various sectors, from technology to manufacturing to food and beverage.
For the second year in a row, the Innovation Mill received funding from GO Virginia, a statewide economic development initiative with the goal of creating high-wage jobs. It provides support for around 25 businesses, Knowles said.
While The Gauntlet, another Advancement Foundation initiative, is a business development program that helps budding entrepreneurs determine if their idea is viable, Knowles said, the Innovation Mill is geared toward a slightly more established business.
"We’re looking for someone that has some knowledge about where their business is going and how they plan to scale," she said.
These businesses might already have a proof of concept, prototype, marketing plan or even funding, Knowles said. But if any of those pieces are missing, they can expect assistance through the Innovation Mill.
Helping participating businesses rise to the next level often involves applying for grants or accelerator programs like RAMP, she said.
One of the success stories from last year was an entrepreneur with a robotics and drone company. Knowles said the Innovation Mill helped him land a $70,000 grant to build a prototype.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Knowles said she expects many people who wanted to start or scale their business reined their plans in. But, she said, resources are available and it's a great time to plan and work on the business.
Applications for the program, which runs for about three months, are open now. To apply, entrepreneurs can fill out a needs assessment at https://theadvancementfoundation.org/innovation-mill/.
Original article found here.
WFIR Radio - Innovation Mill now accepting applications - Interview with Annette Patterson
The Advancement Foundation’s Innovation Mill is now accepting new applications from business startups in potentially high growth industries who need mentoring.
The Advancement Foundation’s Innovation Mill is now accepting new applications from business startups in potentially high growth industries who need mentoring. The Innovation Mill is a free-of-charge program that’s funded by GO Virginia Region 2. WFIR’s Rachel Meell has the story:
Roanoke Times - Article including Gauntlet and Innovation Mill Alumni - East Coast Cannalytics
BLACKSBURG — Rebecca Hobden walked toward the rear of her lab and returned with a ziplock bag of hemp.
The crop and its derivatives are what she and her staff analyze on a regular basis at the ECC Test Lab in the Blacksburg Industrial Park.
BLACKSBURG — Rebecca Hobden walked toward the rear of her lab and returned with a ziplock bag of hemp.
The crop and its derivatives are what she and her staff analyze on a regular basis at the ECC Test Lab in the Blacksburg Industrial Park.
Hobden is the CEO and founder of ECC (East Coast Cannalytics), which first launched more than a year ago out of a sub-leased space at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.
ECC has since grown its staff to three full-time and one part-time, and in January moved just across South Main Street to another facility at the industrial park. The company now works out of an approximately 2,400-square-foot lab — a space more than four times the size of its first home.
Hobden, a chemical engineer with a background in renewable energy, recalled her reasons for starting the operation.
“I was interested in entering this high-growth market,” she said. “The need for a testing lab has become very apparent.”
ECC is one of many firms seeking to gain footing in an industry that is rapidly growing and legally evolving in Virginia and other parts of the country.
The federal government legalized industrial hemp in late 2018 — as long it has a tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, level of no more than .3% — and regulations at the state level have since followed.
Citing data from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, The Roanoke Times reported in July of 2019 that the state had 161 registered industrial hemp processors and 36 dealers.
Virginia, as of this past week, has 195 registered processors and 143 registered dealers, according to VDACS data.
Hobden said the testing work is just as important as the production as farmers and processors need to know about the level of the components and even contaminants in the crop.
In the ECC lab are several machines that Hobden and her staff use to look for hemp components such as THC and cannabidiol, the latter of which has substantial demand among consumers.
THC is the intoxicant in marijuana that produces the psychoactive effects. The component exists in hemp, too, but at much lower amounts than its relative.
Processors, however, seek as much cannabidiol, or CBD, potency as possible, Hobden said.
ECC also tests for contaminants such as pesticide and mycotoxins, or toxins produced by fungus.
The tested data is rendered to a computer, where a chart shows the levels of each component. When testing is complete, the lab issues a certificate of analysis, Hobden said.
In addition to the hemp crop itself, ECC currently tests so-called intermediates and finished products. An intermediate is the concentrated component after its extraction from the crop and is ultimately added to the product to be consumed.
Processors, Hobden said, extract components such as CBD and then either sell it or use it for a finished product. The extract is used in products such as oils, lotions, edibles and coffee, among other things.
While research is ongoing, CBD has been reported to aid with ailments such as pain, stress and nausea.
ECC usually does work for 400 to 500 clients throughout the year, Hobden said.
The lab last year primarily worked with farmers growing and providing the hemp, or biomass, Hobden said. The facility now serves more processors, who still include farmers, she said.
“The first lab was really getting a feel for the industry, working with farmers and growers,” she said.
Original article found here.
Valley Business Front - Small Business Tool Kit
As I interact and observe the changing work world, I try to view the new perspective as opportunity. I’ve talked with so many professionals over the last 6 months that report feeling enlightened to a new way of life through the COVID work world.
As I interact and observe the changing work world, I try to view the new perspective as opportunity. I’ve talked with so many professionals over the last 6 months that report feeling enlightened to a new way of life through the COVID work world. Driven colleagues, facing staggering challenges, but using COVID as a way to increase their growth mindset.
Growth mindset is a belief that your talent, skills, abilities and personality can be developed through hard work, good strategies, learning from mistakes and getting input from others. Whereas a person with a fixed mindset believes that basic qualities like intelligence, talents and abilities are fixed. As in, you have a certain amount of talent or intelligence and that’s it. In short when you have a fixed mindset you find it more difficult to navigate the challenges that you encounter during these demanding and uncertain times.
This COVID period has illuminated the success of those entrepreneurs and employers that subscribe and promote the growth mindset. They embrace and stretch their “pivot muscle” better than their counterparts. It’s clearer every day that any citizen with the growth mindset can operate and manage themselves as their own business whether working for themselves or someone else. This unprecedented time has demonstrated that a two, three or four-person team can accomplish big things in their garage or home office.
After all, just about anyone can access the talent that is missing from their toolbox by “renting” expertise needed to grow their business. Even very expensive equipment can be accessed through the “fab labs” popping up across the county or at the local community college. In fact, the cloud enables small companies to store and manage massive amounts of information, hire design gurus online and even benefit from data analytics at little cost. They can do it all through exponential technology that doubles small companies in capability or performance. Technology is now at the point where its price-performance makes it possible to solve today's business problems in ways that were not previously possible.
In many ways, small is bigger because of the ability to leverage all that is at our fingertips, while outpacing big companies, burdened with heavier baggage, in the pivot. Exponential technology and growth mindset sets up smaller companies to be successful during this big disruption known as COVID. Suddenly small is the new big.
Original article found here.