MEDC Grants Funding to TechTown Programs

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DETROIT — TechTown, in partnership with Bizdom and Invest Detroit, today announced it was awarded a grant for $1 million over two years from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Michigan Strategic Fund to form the Detroit Technology Exchange.

The initiative consists of four programs geared toward creating, attracting, and retaining talent; exploiting disruptive technologies; creating robust deal flow in the city; and supporting the efforts of early stage, competitive-edge companies, all while eliminating duplicative efforts. In addition to the grant, the partners will leverage investments made in their organizations by the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan and others, through in-kind support and access to best-in-class programs, facilities, and events. Conservative estimates for the grant term show the programs creating 15 new companies and 25 new jobs, as well as retaining 35 jobs and generating $881,000 in new investment. The programs are as follows:

DTX Programming: Integrated Ecosystem Services: Activities designed to address gaps in the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as monthly portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for collaboration among DTX partners; critical marketing and design assistance for companies involved in DTX programs; and various efforts to enhance each DTX company’s ability to attract investment at key stages of business creation.

Launch Detroit: Highly competitive, 10-week summer boot camp for Michigan’s undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to launch technology-based businesses. The program, which will run from May 28 to Aug. 2, will create new tech-based companies, and encourage talented young people to remain in Detroit by connecting them to the city’s entrepreneurial network. Each student team will receive a stipend.

D-Venture: Executive-in-residence program designed to bring selected entrepreneurial-minded professionals to Detroit to mine underutilized or underdeveloped intellectual property and create companies based on the intellectual property. Each EIR will develop a business plan; act as CEO; and raise venture investments for the enterprise. The program will support each EIR with an annualized salary for six months to one year.

DTX Fellows: Program to insert individuals into Detroit’s entrepreneurial service organizations and startups to enhance the capacity and talent that exists within these organizations, while also connecting high-quality, mid-level talent to the Detroit entrepreneurial ecosystem. The program will support six fellows with one-year contracts featuring an annualized salary over two-years

Services in support of entrepreneurship have expanded aggressively in recent years to meet growing demand among the city’s entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, organizations have moved to fill needs and build upon assets without collaborating to avoid duplication, nor effectively leveraged existing resources and potential partners.

“DTX seeks to fundamentally shift this paradigm to one of strategic partnership — exponentially augmenting the ecosystem by bundling the collective power of its partners’ core competencies to address existing gaps,” Leslie Smith, president and CEO of TechTown, said. “We are exceedingly grateful to the MEDC for its support; it is truly exciting to have validation behind the criticality of this initiative.”

“We’re extremely confident in the DTX, not just because the programs are innovative, but because each partner is dedicated to true collaboration,” Ross Sanders, CEO of Bizdom, said. “Each of us brings something to the table – a unique set of tools, expertise and connections – to form the backbone of this partnership.”

“We look forward to working with TechTown and Bizdom to deliver collaborative programs focused on high-potential, cutting edge technology company creation, talent expansion, and pipeline development,” Adrian Fortino, vice president of Invest Detroit, said. “This rare combination of assets leads me to see nothing but great potential in our partnership.”