Greetings!    

TechConnect West Virginia Awarded EDA Grant      

   TechConnectWV has been awarded $250,000 in grant funding by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to support entrepreneurial and business start-up efforts that will help create new tech-based jobs in high growth industries in West Virginia.

L-R: TCWV Chair Russ Lorince, EDA Assistant Secretary John Fernandez; TCWV Executive Director Anne Barth; WV Regional Tech Park Executive Director Dr. Phil Halstead

   "This funding will help strengthen the innovation ecosystem in West Virginia, support entrepreneurship, and create jobs," said Anne Barth, executive director of TechConnectWV. "Our mission is to diversify West Virginia's economy and promote economic prosperity. At the end of the day, it's about creating new jobs here at home in our existing regional innovation cluster," she added.              

   TechConnectWV will use the EDA award, along with earlier funding received from the State of West Virginia, to spur growth in four industry sectors: advanced energy, chemicals and advanced materials, biometrics, and biotechnology.

   "We are collaborating with partners in private industry, higher education, and the public sector to align resources and leverage assets to identify opportunities for entrepreneurs and help start-up companies get off the ground," Barth said.  

   "Entrepreneurs have many challenges, from technical assistance needs to capital requirements. The EDA grant will allow us to build out the 'soft infrastructure' that is needed for success, and it complements other recent EDA-funded projects, such as the renovations at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park and the EDA-University Center grant to Marshall and Concord Universities," she said.

Dr. Alessandro Baldi to Lead Bioanalytics Unit   

at Protea Biosciences      

     Protea Biosciences Group, based in Morgantown and a leading developer of new bioanalytical technology, recently announced that Alessandro Baldi, Ph.D. has joined the company as vice president and general manager. In this position Dr. Baldi will be responsible for the management of the company's bioanalytics products and services, including the company's LAESI instrument technology.

Dr. Alessandro Baldi

   "Protea is positioned to become a leading solutions provider in the bioanalytics market, offering a blend of unique chemistries, services, domain knowledge and technologies," commented Dr. Baldi. "Our overall portfolio of solutions, driven by the innovative LAESI technology, puts unprecedented capabilities in the hands of the biologist, providing deeper insight on the metabolism inside living cells and 3D distribution profiling of molecules in a biological tissue. I am pleased to join the Protea team, to build the leading new bioanalytics enterprise."

    Dr. Baldi brings more than 25 years of experience in Separation Sciences and Mass Spectrometry to Protea Biosciences. Before joining Protea, he conducted research in natural products chemistry, and founded a consulting firm that worked with large pharma and energy companies in Europe and the Middle East. He joined PerkinElmer in the USA in 2001 and held senior roles as technology manager as well as business manager for their Chromatography portfolio, before becoming senior director of their Mass Spectrometry business.

   Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. (www.proteabio.com) develops new bioanalytical technologies that enable the direct analysis of proteins, metabolites, and other biomolecules, and applies their technology to the development of new pharmaceuticals, products and services.

Top 10 Policies for the Innovative State       

We know that innovation leads to economic advancement, but what makes a state innovative? The Southern Technology Council recently published a list of the top ten policies that help establish innovative states. They include: 

1. Establish funds in targeted industries to seed new companies.
2. Provide funds to hire world-class researchers for the state's universities in disciplines tied to targeted industries.
3. Establish tax credits or grants for private sector R&D, especially when conducted by small businesses and partnered with state universities or federal labs.
4. Make available incentives for university research to create companies from academic pursuits.
5. Provide state tax credit for angel and venture capital investments.
6. Establish a task force to create optimal taxes, regulations, and incentives for entrepreneurs and company creation.
7. Provide incentives to promote math and science-orientated college students into STEM teaching careers.
8. Increase career awareness and assistance for trade vocations important to science and technology companies.
9. Create a joint house/senate committee on science and technology to advise the legislature on technology issues.
10. Fund a state organization, with a multi-year funding mechanism, to create innovation-based jobs and companies.

Read in more detail with examples at "Top Ten Policies for the Innovative State." 

WV Department of Commerce News    

   If you haven't yet seen the new video produced by the West Virginia Department of Commerce, view it at  www.businessatthespeedoflife.com. The CEOs of several West Virginia companies--both large and small--tell their story of doing business in West Virginia, in their own words. Hear their take on a great workforce, fiscal stability of the state, and quality of life, to name a few of the benefits of locating in the Mountain State.

     Also, the West Virginia Small Business Development Center has instituted a new training initiative: Three Step Jump Start. You can access this new program at www.wvsbdc.org/jumpstart.