Accelerate Michigan
January 27, 2011
Executives from The MORE Program attended the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Conference and Competition held at the University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex December 9-11, 2010.
The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is an international business plan competition that highlights Michigan as a robust and vibrant venture for innovation and business opportunity. It targets mid-to-late-stage business start-ups with potential to generate an immediate impact on Michigan’s economy, as well as student concepts with longer-term business viability.
ReGenerate Solutions, which began in 2009 as a project developed by a group of University of Michigan graduate students who were seeking alternative uses for food waste took the top prize of $25,000 for the student track of the competition. Regenerate won with its plan to provide organic food waste digesters for large cafeterias and supermarkets. The startup’s founders won the competition that saw nearly 300 student teams vying for awards.
Kalamazoo-based Armune BioScience Inc., a molecular diagnostic company, won $500,000 after taking first place for the business track of the competition. Ann Arbor-based Arbor Photonics, whose fiber-optic technology for high-power lasers used in manufacturing and defense, won $150,000 as first runner-up.
InsYght is sponsored by the New Economy Initiative, the schools of the University Research Corridor – Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University – and a number of global, national and local businesses. For more information, visit www.acceleratemichigan.org.
