AgriNovus Indiana launches $75,000 startup accelerator, Velocity, to address areas ripe for agbioscience innovation

2024-12-19T00:51:34-05:00December 18, 2024|

Velocity empowers innovators to develop solutions in bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health; Registration deadline is January 24 AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, announced today the launch of Velocity, a six-month agbioscience accelerator to inspire the creation of tech-enabled businesses to address many of the toughest challenges facing the food and agbioscience economy. In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Indiana Soybean Alliance, Elevance Health, Beck’s Hybrids and Ag Alumni Seed, Velocity challenges students, startups and existing companies to create solutions to fill research-defined gaps in three critical areas: bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health. The entrepreneur who presents the top solution in each of these three gaps will receive $25,000. “Bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health are the top three forces of change that will shape the next chapter of [...]

New EntreWorks report outlines opportunities to boost  innovation and entrepreneurship in Indiana

2024-12-18T23:59:38-05:00December 17, 2024|

Indianapolis, IN – With a focus on expanding Indiana’s entrepreneurial environment, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and AgriNovus Indiana today unveiled their new report, Unlocking IP: Leveraging Indiana’s R&D Assets to Boost Entrepreneurship. In partnership with EntreWorks Consulting, the report outlines opportunities to increase support for startups, identify emerging programs and priorities, and create a base of home-grown tech talent and an expanded innovation network across the state. “Indiana is often cited as one of the best places to start a business, which is a great starting point,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “The data released in this report confirms that while we have some great strengths to build up, we have more work to do to as we still lag behind our peers in number of actual new business start-ups per year.  The [...]

AgriNovus Indiana announces Producer-Led Innovation Challenge to improve on-farm operations

2024-08-21T13:45:28-04:00August 21, 2024|

Companies, students, startups, academics and innovators to compete for $25,000 grand prize; Registration ends September 7 INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, launched the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge today – a nine-week accelerator to create tech-enabled businesses that manage on-farm labor shortages while also saving farmers time and money. In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs, students and innovators to compete for a $25,000 grand prize by developing technology that reduces labor needs without facing the strategic decision between investment risk and labor uncertainty. “Farmers continue to face critical headwinds when it comes to securing adequate on-farm labor,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for tech innovators to develop solutions [...]

AgriNovus Indiana announces addition, change to its board of directors

2024-07-25T02:35:00-04:00July 25, 2024|

INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today an addition and change to its board of directors. The board unanimously approved the addition of Gil Farley, president and owner of Biodyne USA and BW Fusion, to the board and approved David Pugh, chief financial officer of AgReliant Genetics to replace an outgoing director. “Indiana’s agbioscience economy continues to experience growth and strength thanks to the direction and support of the AgriNovus board of directors,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The addition of Gil and Dave to our Board brings even more leadership and context to our team as we work to build the agbioscience economy of the future.” Farley launched Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Biodyne USA in 2012 and BW Fusion in 2019 with a focus on using the [...]

New study shows Indiana’s agbioscience sector contributes nearly $70B to state’s economy

2024-12-20T21:54:19-05:00July 16, 2024|

AgriNovus Indiana-commissioned study benchmarks state’s global competitiveness, defines three priority opportunities for the future INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, released new research today that found Indiana’s agbioscience sector contributes $69.6 billion to the state’s economy and identified forces expected to shape its global competitiveness. Conducted by RTI International, the study entitled Accelerate 2050: A Vision for Indiana Agbioscience, identified the state’s relative economic performance across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and production agriculture and defined priority opportunities to position Indiana’s agbioscience economy for differentiated growth amid future uncertainty. “Agbioscience is a critical contributor to economic growth and is connected to every person on the planet given it centers on food,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “This new research not only defines the [...]

Hoosier Ag Today: AgriNovus Indiana works to bring college ‘outsiders’ to Ag through Field Atlas platform

2024-06-10T07:51:40-04:00June 5, 2024|

Photo Courtesy: AgriNovus Indiana AgriNovus Indiana, CICP's agbiosciences initiative, was recently featured in Hoosier Ag Today for its Field Atlas platform that helps build awareness of the agbiosciences industry and connects students with careers and on-farm experiences. As part of the program, AgriNovus provides on-site tours for college students to introduce them to some of the agriculture companies in Indiana. Recently, the initiative led a group of 12 college students from universities in Indiana to Fair Oaks Farms in northwest Indiana and led a farm tour at Solinftec in West Lafayette, Ind. One of the students on the tour found a spark that now has her focused on a life in agriculture here in Indiana. “There is a hidden world literally under here. I can say I was one of the people who thought there was not much [...]

AgriNovus Indiana announces winner of the 2024 HungerTech Innovation Challenge

2024-04-30T08:41:27-04:00April 26, 2024|

Anu selected from 16 teams aiming to create tech-enabled solutions that connect food supply with food demand INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the state’s agbioscience economy, today announced Evansville, Ind.-based Anu has won the HungerTech Innovation Challenge, securing the company $25,000 to advance its tech-enabled food security solution. Presented by Elevance Health, the HungerTech Innovation Challenge is a four-week accelerator supporting entrepreneurs to create tech-enabled businesses that ensure increased and equitable food distribution that is both environmentally sustainable and economically viable. “HungerTech was created to inspire innovation that durably addresses the gap that exists between food supply and food demand,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “Anu’s technology has potential to bring the production and availability of healthy foods to consumers across the country and around the world.” Anu is a dedicated health and [...]

New research defines critical areas of focus for innovation to eliminate food insecurity, launches HungerTech Innovation Challenge

2024-03-06T12:33:54-05:00March 6, 2024|

HungerTech Innovation Challenge to focus on developing tech models that increase equitable food distribution, environmental sustainability and economic viability INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the state’s agbioscience economy, released new secondary research today identifying the need for market-driven technologies that ensure increased and equitable food distribution to eliminate hunger. The study was conducted by Purdue University student, Tushar Sonvani, to inform the scope of the 2024 HungerTech Innovation Challenge that tasks innovators with creating and implementing tech-enabled business solutions that connect food supply with food demand. A winning solution will receive $25,000 to help accelerate commercialization of their solution. “Combatting food insecurity requires a portfolio of solutions, and it’s clear that innovation presents tremendous opportunity to unlock new ability to better connect food supply with food demand,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. Entitled Addressing [...]

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