Two initiatives open to projects from Michigan institutions have secured continued support from Michigan Strategic Fund.
Two entrepreneurship and innovation programs open to institutions around Michigan have secured a total of $1.6m in funding from investment vehicle Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF).
The capital sustains operations for another two years at the University Early Stage Proof-of-Concept Fund – Advance and AgBio Mtrac Innovation Hub, two statewide programs administered by Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and managed by Michigan State University.
MEDC provides match funding for Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (Mtrac).
Advance has been awarded a $500,000 grant, while AgBio Innovation will receive an additional $1.1m from Mtrac’s 2018 budget.
AgBio Innovation Fund supplies capital to projects in areas including bio-derived materials, natural resources and animal health. It accepts applicants from higher learning institutions, hospitals and nonprofit research centres.
Since becoming a state-wide program, AgBio Innovation Fund has helped spawn two startups and 10 licences or options, paving the way for more than $10m in follow-on funding.
Advance, meanwhile, supports early-stage research from any Michigan public university with money, resources and tech transfer services to help achieve essential development milestones including studies and prototypes.
MSF will also supply $345,800 to support an extra year at Hacker Fellows, a fellowship program managed by Invest Detroit Ventures, the investment arm of economic development agency Invest Detroit. Hacker Fellow matches junior software developers with Michigan-based businesses once they have completed a five-week training bootcamp.
Fred Molnar, vice-president of entrepreneurship and innovation at MEDC, said: “Developing university technologies and supporting the growth of high-tech entrepreneurs and their technologies on the path to the commercial market, from ideation to maturation, is the mission of all of our programs and initiatives.
“The three programs extended today each help ignite an entrepreneurial mindset within individuals involved and provide resources to develop talent and technology into business growth for Michigan.”
– This article was updated on September 5 to clarify the ownership structures of Advance, AgBio MTrac and MEDC. We apologise for the confusion.
