Cloud Storage

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Cloud storage is an integral part of data retrieval and back end management, so Accela utilizes the best practices for storing your information. It feeds the AccelaCast on-demand rich media platform which provides seemless visual capabilities for presentations and education. Cloud storage also serves the AccelaWorks web response management, providing vital sales information for bringing in new visitors to your website, and supplying the forms that accumulate consumer data to generate leads. Medical professionals will find that the necessary information to provide the best care is at their fingertips, as multimedia content is delivered from the cloud in an interactive format to reinforce comprehension.

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ITE|GVMS ProTraining Inaugural Seminar: IP Law

On Tuesday, November 1st, Innovative Technology Enterprises will be hosting the first ITE|GVMS ProTraining seminar, focusing on intellectual property law. This series of programming aims to inform entrepreneurs on a variety of topics pertinent to their businesses, and many will include continuing education credits for legal professionals, accountants, and others.

The first of these sessions is titled “Recent Changes in Intellectual Property Law for non-IP Attorneys, Startups, and Their Advisors.” The presentations will focus primarily on IP law as it applies to the field of biotechnology. Two attorneys based in St. Louis will be presenting. I interviewed both of them over the phone to get some background, and learn more about what they will be presenting.

First we have Saul Zackson, PhD, JD, of Zackson Law. Saul has been a practicing patent attorney since 2001, working with patents involving the life sciences and anything related. In 2010, out of a desire for independence from larger firms, Saul started his own firm – Zackson Law. The firm focuses most of its work on universities, non-profits, and startups.

Though the specifics of the presentation had yet to be finalized at the time of the interview, Saul gave me a preview of what he would be discussing. One topic deals with patentable  subject matter. Examples of such subject matter would be patents on medical diagnostics, and patents on methods of treatment. “There have been a couple of decisions from the Supreme Court in recent years that have turned everything upside down, or changed standards, making getting patents more difficult in a variety of situations,” Saul explained.

Next is Kirk Damman, JD, of Lewis Rice. Kirk is our speaker from a larger firm. Kirk has been a patent attorney for seventeen years. He primarily works to help clients acquire their patents, though he has experience with litigation as well. Kirk’s primary client base is small business and startups, many of them in the St. Louis area, or in the Midwest. Kirk explained how most large firms work primarily with larger companies. “We’re a little unique I think in the fact that we are focused on smaller companies and startups.”

Kirk’s presentation is going to focus on the question “what do you actually get a patent on?” What is the criteria for a patentable process or physical object? A core of this is what inventions inhabit a physical device space vs a software or operating space. Both of these areas include patentable material, but Kirk will address the ongoing legal discussion about their differences and what may separate a patentable idea/object from a non-patentable idea/object.

Kirk also helped to found the Patent Pro Bono Program in St. Louis. GVMS, as an organization that supports local startups, helps facilitate companies into the program. Kirk gave me a statement about the program.

“It’s an offering that fills a necessary gap by allowing those without the financial resources to file for or obtain patent protection to do so.  In effect, to grant access to the patent office for a group that has been traditionally underrepresented at the patent office because they simply don’t know how to access an agency that is designed to help them protect their ideas.  The real value of it, however, is that it means that inventors who lack financial resources are not forced to try and navigate patent law (which can be merciless) by themselves simply because they lack the resources to get an attorney.  Hopefully, the inventors can then go out to license, sell, or commercialize their ideas adding value to their local economies.”

This seminar will not only be beneficial for attorneys, but also for anyone in technology or life science field that wants to learn more about the possibilities for their inventive ideas to become a reality. We welcome startup founders, their advisors, mentors, and anyone interested in the subject matter.

The post ITE|GVMS ProTraining Inaugural Seminar: IP Law appeared first on Laboratory and IT Incubator at University of MO – St. Louis.

St. Louis Startup Connection

Startup Connection, the St. Louis region’s largest event focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, will be held on Wednesday, November 16th.  The event will return to Washington University’s Knight Center from 4:30pm – 9:00pm.  The expected audience of 1,300+ includes top early-stage startups and a dynamic mix of the innovation and business community.

The Venture Showcase highlights the breadth of innovation in the St. Louis region across various industry sectors. The 70+ early-stage startups represent industries ranging from biotechnology and advanced manufacturing to consumer products and tech.  Meet the entrepreneurs at their displays, and see their pitches live on the Emerson Auditorium stage.   The event’s Resource Fair features over 40 organizations that provide resources, services and connections for startup companies.

“Startup Connection is a great event to attend to see what’s new in St. Louis’ startup community,” said Startup Connection Managing Director Phyllis Ellison, director of entrepreneur services and institutional & corporate partnerships at the Cortex Innovation Community.  “We have an exciting group of companies this year that really emphasizes the variety of technology and innovation happening in the region.”

Join us for the most energetic evening in the innovation community!  Visit www.StartupConnection.org for tickets, event info and a list of companies in the Innovation Showcase.   Use the promo code “Take10” for a $10 discount until November 1.

The post St. Louis Startup Connection appeared first on Laboratory and IT Incubator at University of MO – St. Louis.

US Ambassador visits the Portershed

July 21, 2016
Galway Advertiser

US Ambassadors visits the Portershed

The Ag Tech seminar was the highlight of a two day visit to Galway by an economic delegation from St. Louis who also visited Galway Technology Center and NUIG. The seminar which was over-subscribed engaged both Ag-Tech academia and industry leaders in lively panel discussions. The visit was part of an initiative to further develop existing relationships globally and to create more business opportunities for west of Ireland companies in international markets. Pictured are Tim Novak, World Trade Center, St. Louis; Shelia Sweeney, Chair St. Louis County Council, US Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley; Maurice O’Gorman, Chair GCID, Conor O’Dowd President Galway Chamber and John Breslin, Senior Lecturer NUIG and GCID Board member.

When St. Louis Innovators Go To Ireland And France: What Happened And What’s Next

July 27, 2016
EQ Magazine
By Kelly Hamilton

Thirty St. Louis innovation leaders, including representatives from St. Louis economic development agencies, elected officials, entrepreneur support organizations, startup companies and multi-national corporations, wrapped a six-day delegation to Ireland and France last weekend. I was fortunate enough to join the delegation. As a storyteller in our city’s innovation ecosystem, what better job could I have than to be on location with this group, sharing St. Louis’ innovation story with the world and taking in learnings from the cities we visited?

First, how did this group come to make this journey together? Well, once upon a time (in fall of 2014), St. Louisan Kevin O’Malley was appointed by President Obama to be US Ambassador to Ireland. He really wanted to get something done for his hometown, beyond his work for United States as a nation. Last summer, to create a space where St. Louis and Irish business leaders could foster deeper connections, he invited a delegation of business and economic development organizations, organized by the World Trade Center St. Louis, to journey across the Atlantic.

One of the most impactful moments of that trip was during a trip to MasterCard’s Dublin office to visit with its global innovation team. Learning about Ireland’s startup ecosystems and how MasterCard engages tech companies there, the delegation was blown away. What doors could be opened for St. Louis’ tech companies in Ireland, and vice versa? With some shared strengths (agriculture, MedTech), what bridges could be built between Ireland and St. Louis? The World Trade Center wanted to help our city find out. So a metaphorical seed was planted on that trip—a follow-up delegation focused specifically on innovation and entrepreneurship. Trade missions like these don’t happen every year, much less in two consecutive years—which already set up this year’s trip to be exceptional.

Finding Family

Trade missions can be somewhat ceremonial. Elected officials are present, there are gifts given on behalf of the cities, there are speeches. Going into this delegation, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I imagined that would be a part of it.

And there was. There were greetings in Gaelic (in Galway) and French (in Lyon). There were gifts given (St. Louis gifted beautiful glass sculptures from Third Degree Glass, founded by Square co-founder and St. Louisan Jim McKelvey). Stories were told (like that of St. Louis Regional Chamber investing in the flight of Charles Lindbergh) to share the spirit of St. Louis with our peers across the sea. There were talking points aplenty, each other thanking the other for the relationship, and us thanking them for their generous hospitality (which was indeed generous; we were never left with a hunger—or a thirst).

But so much more happened. Ultimately, it was about finding our “lost brothers and sisters,” put by Tim Hayden, co-founder and Managing Partner of Stadia Ventures and Director of Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University. “It doesn’t matter where you’re located; the crazy entrepreneurs all find a way to come together.”

And while that is true, Ambassador O’Malley put it another, more literal way: “Almost 800,000 Missourians claim Irish ancestry of some degree or another. […] We have this shared history, this shared culture. We have a shared DNA. […] We the Irish, we St. Louisans, simply get one another. We can do business because we understand one another. The Irish are a welcoming people. St. Louis is a welcoming place. Ireland presents a tremendous opportunity to St. Louis. I would argue for the Irish that St. Louis presents a tremendous opportunity for you.”

But First, France

Let’s not skip too far ahead. First, after a 20-ish-hour journey, the delegates landed in Lyon, France for the first leg of the delegation. Why Lyon, when the US Ambassador to Ireland invited us? Great question. St. Louis and Lyon are sister cities. If you are unfamiliar with this, the Sister City Initiative is a global project whereby cities create relationships for mutually beneficial business and cultural exchanges.

Lyon is known as a culinary capital, but it also has a whole lot happening in the business space, particularly in the life sciences. There are 600 life science companies in the region and 60,000 jobs in health and biotech. The number-one vaccine production center in the world and France’s leading health center, Lyonbiopôle, are there. It has Biodistrict Lyon, a business district with more than 5,000 people working there, including 2,750 researchers.

Day one had the group visiting the global headquarters of bioMerieux, a pioneer and world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics. The 50-year-old privately held company has a St. Louis office that employs more than 700 people, a significant portion of its 9,500-person team. We learned about Lyon’s deep history of innovations in the life sciences and bioMerieux’s role as an anchor in the ecosystem and economy.

Later that day, the group got a tour of Lyon by water, where we had a spectacular view of the new Lyon-Confluence district, an innovative project between public and private sectors. An ambitious undertaking, the project’s goal is to double the size of Lyon’s city centre by 2025. The first phase, initiated in 2003, has come to a close, and the results are breathtaking.

According to Jean-Charles Foddis, Executive Director at ADERLY, Lyon’s economic development agency, the district—which is both a business and residential district—is attracting investors and tenants who are seduced by the district’s location between the Saône and Rhône rivers and its proximity to the city center. The location ws selected to host the Lyon Smart Community project until 2016 (Lyon was the first “Smart City” in France).

On day two, my fellow delegates and I participated in discussions hosted by ADERLY and OnlyLyon, an organization focused on building the region’s international reputation. Aside from their Sister City relationship, Lyon and St. Louis share the life sciences sector as a key strength. Back-to-back panel discussions focused on drawing out commonalities, unique challenges and possible collaborations between cities in the bio/life sciences space.

The first panel brought together Jason Hall, VP of Entrepreneurship and Innovation of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Donn Rubin, President & CEO of BioSTL from St. Louis and Hugues Benoit Cattin, Director of the Innovation Factory at the University of Lyon and Florence Agostino Etchetto, CEO of Lyonbiopôle, to discuss their respective regions’ strengths and challenges.

Jason Hall noted some of St. Louis and Lyon’s connection points. St. Louis is a product/startup of France­­–founded by French entrepreneurs Laclede and Chouteau–and its entrepreneurship boom largely started with the life sciences, including being home to the researchers at Washington University who first mapped the human genome. Hugues Benoit noted that Lyon looks to send their students to interesting ecosystems like St. Louis.

To get some of the companies’ perspectives, Travis Sheridan of Venture Café – St. Louis moderated a CEO2CEO discussion between Dr. Cheryl Watkins Moore, director of St. Louis startup accelerated rehabilitation specialties and Gilles DeVillers of Lyon-based Neolys Diagnostics. The two CEOs discussed how their cities support life science startups, what current challenges they face and what opportunities lay ahead for their ecosystems.

Destination Dublin

Immediately following the panel discussions, we hopped a plane to Dublin. Day three of the delegation brought us to Deerfield Residence, the home of US Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley. Before the day’s meetings, everyone had a chance to acclimate to the stunningly beautiful environs of the Ambassador residence. Breakfast was served and delegates had the chance to mingle with members of Dublin’s tech community and chat with the Ambassador.

Ambassador O’Malley then welcomed the delegation with remarks that spoke to the symbiotic relationship and shared history of the US and Ireland, and to his desire to foster deep connections between St. Louis and Ireland during his time in office.

“I want the best for my hometown. […] I hope we make this a profitable trip—that’s what this is all about. Can we make connections to put St. Louis, Missouri and Ireland together for the future?”

It’s important to note the timing of this delegation, happening just two weeks after the Brexit vote on June 23. The Ambassador made some poignant reminders to the crowd to set the tone for the day:

“With the United Kingdom voting recently to leave the EU, we are reminded again we need to work smarter to find a new and cohesive way to do business. […] It may well be that Ireland is soon the only English speaking country in the EU. It may well happen that the Brexit changes things dramatically and here we are with an opportunity and we’re sitting here on the cusp of this. […] The successful people are the nimble people. We [the United States] have a shared history with Ireland and shared DNA. […] The big question that’s presented to me and I’ll present to you is not what will happen at this meeting, but why are we just now doing this?”

The day’s panel discussions explored Ireland and St. Louis’ common ground in tech and FinTech. The first panel featured Ginger Imster, Executive Director of Arch Grants, and Dennis Lower, CEO of Cortex Innovation Community, alongside two leaders in Dublin’s innovation ecosystem, Eamon Leonard, Founder at Cohort, Inc. and Eoghan Stack, Chief Executive at DCU Ryan Academy. The conversation centered around the strengths and pain points of our respective communities. Dublin noted its collaborative and welcoming culture, similar words often used to describe St. Louis’ ecosystem. Lower and Imster noted St. Louis’ focus on community building, the importance of creating an inclusive environment and the vision of creating a vibrant innovation corridor that gives entrepreneurs greater choice as they scale.

Throughout the discussion, both Imster and Lower spoke to the importance of people and place. One salient statement came during a discussion around failure and its role in a healthy ecosystem. From Imster: “At the end of the day, what have we done as communities to be able to reflect values back at that talent so that, should the business not succeed, we can make a compelling case for that talent to want to stay [in St. Louis]? Because this is about people, and the values that we share.”

Mastering Corporate-Startup Collaborations

On the same day, Chris Dornfeld, Co-founder and President of St. Louis-based Bonfyre, then led a CEO2CEO discussion between Pravina Pindoria, COO and Cofounder of St. Louis-based Tallyfy, Seamus Matthews, CEO & Founder of Dublin-based startup, PennyOwl and Robert Reeg, President, MasterCard Operations & Technologies. The discussions centered around how startups partner with multi-national corporations. With MasterCard’s corporate technology headquarters based in St. Louis and Ireland, the conversation also delved into how MasterCard is leveraging relationships with startups to drive innovation and attract talent.

Dornfeld asked the panelists to speak to the value of global companies like MasterCard partnering with startup companies. Reeg spoke to MasterCard’s approach, and how it has been a more recent shift for the company to focus on building a reputation for innovation. What started as a way to get more ideas turned into a larger talent play.

“We started looking at this from a defensive mechanism [standpoint], afraid that someone was going to come up with an idea that would disintermediate us to a certain extent, but it grew into “we’re never going to think of all the best ideas, and so [there’s an entire team dedicated to finding] startups that make sense to become part of the MasterCard family. For us, it gives us access to idea generation and talent that we wouldn’t see otherwise, and it gives our employee base a whole different view of what success looks like. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to fail fast and go about it a different way, and that’s what learning from the startups helps us do.”

After the day at Deerfield, the group went to Dogpatch Labs, one of Dublin’s leading co-working spaces for tech startups. The impressive place, which is difficult to compare to something similar in St. Louis, but the closest in size and vibe would be CIC@4240, except it has retail space and a food court on the first floor. After a tour and presentation, the delegation caught a train to Galway.

Capital of Culture & Tech

On our first night in Galway, the delegation was treated to a little local culture at a theater house, followed by dinner at a local pub hosted by the Galway Chamber. Along the way, we learned that Galway was actually in the running to be designated the European Capital of Culture 2020, a competition that would bring the city an estimated €170 million to the winner in terms of funding and tourism. It is also potentially worth several thousand new jobs.

The next day, the group started the morning at a networking event at Galway Technology Centre, aplace that provides serviced office space in a prime location in Galway to meet the needs of companies in the ICT, digital media and other industries. The Galway Chamber and mayor’s office welcomed the delegation to the city, shared some insights into the Galway tech ecosystem and invited St. Louis representatives to do the same. Then, several Galway-based startups including Element Wave, RealSim and Claddagh Jewellers, shared their stories and had booths where St. Louis’ delegation connected with them one-on-one.

Campus Connections

After lunch, the delegation headed to the National University of Ireland Galway, where a roundtable of voices from both St. Louis and Galway discussed the role of universities in ecosystems, how the universities are supporting their respective ecosystems. David Hakanson and Tim Hayden of Saint Louis University and William Powderly and Daniel Berke from Washington University spoke to their university’s focuses in terms of engagement.

“One of the things that we’ve found is that what is changing university culture more rapidly than anything else is our students,” remarked Dr. William Powderly, director of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. “The students coming in now want their education and want to make a difference. And they don’t want to make a difference when they’re 70. They want to make a difference now. And I think that has really started to get us to thinking, how do we do that?”

But the roundtable was not just a sharing of ideas. Before leaving the table, there was a call to take action. Ideas discussed included creating an exchange program for entrepreneurship students and one for startups themselves.

“We have 125 undergraduate entrepreneurship majors. We’d love to send them here. […] Let’s get some of our students in the startup world to come on over and send some of your students over to us as well,” said panelist Tim Hayden of SLU.

Panelist Chris Motley, CEO & Founder of Better Weekdays, offered an insightful idea: “Don’t forget about the founders and entrepreneurs themselves. I think there’s an incredible amount of learning that can happen on how we can expand internationally, especially for a business like mine–everybody needs a job after college. But for those entrepreneurs here in Ireland who want to get exposure in the US, I think that crossover between students [is important] but extending it to founders may also be tremendously beneficial.”

Solidifying Partnerships

On the final day of the delegation, the group met at PorterShed, a new T-REX-like startup incubator in the emerging Galway City Innovation District. The space will house high potential tech start-up companies and was built through a partnership between the Galway Chamber and AIB.

Maurice O’Gorman of the Galway Chamber and Chairperson for the Galway City Innovation District, welcomed the delegation. Ambassador O’Malley joined for the day of conversations and announcements around AgTech innovation. Following the same format as Dublin and Lyon, we started with a panel discussion with leaders in the innovation ecosystem and discussed possible collaboration points between cities. I had the opportunity to moderate a panel featuring Christine Karslake, VP of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, Matt Plummer, Principal at the Yield Lab, Charlie Spillane, Head of Plant & Agribiosciences Centre (PABC) at the National University of Ireland Galway and Ivan McPhillips, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.

Christine Karslake, in addition to sharing updates on St. Louis’ growing Ag and Plant Science Innovation District, shared takeaways that the delegation had been processing throughout the week together: “One of the things as our delegation jumps on the bus at the end of the day is, we want to make sure this just wasn’t a trip—that we’ve really begun a partnership. And that we really have tangible things we’re able to show from this—ways in which we connect companies, in which we can perhaps plan business competitions together, in which we can really work together.”

It should be noted here that one outcome of last summer’s delegation to Ireland was the expansion of BioSTL’s GlobalSTL program into Ireland this year. Donn Rubin, CEO of BioSTL, was on last year’s delegation and during that trip, built a relationship with Enterprise Ireland. One year later, GlobalSTL is now working deeply in Ireland.

“My colleague Vijay Chauhan is in Ireland this week with Enterprise Ireland and with a colleague from St. Louis University and one of our health care systems. They’re traveling around Ireland and meeting with dozens of companies this week, and we’ll be back in September on an AgTech-focused trip. We’re really delighted to be deeply involved now with Ireland.”

The third and final transatlantic CEO2CEO event was a discussion between Peter Wyse Jackson, President & CEO of Missouri Botanical Garden, Gareth Devenney, Co-Founder & COO of Farmflo and Thad Simons, Managing Director of The Yield Lab, the St. Louis AgTech accelerator.

Simons then made an extra special announcement to close out the delegation—the expansion of The Yield Lab into Galway. “Our plan is to be able to start a program very much like we do in the St. Louis and be able to support not only Irish companies, but companies that can come from anywhere in the world that would [get] value from coming to a program based here [in Galway], probably here in this same space that we’re in right now.”

Part of the reason The Yield Lab expanded into Galway is that Simons noticed a way for St. Louis to add value to our Galway sister city. “It was my first trip to Ireland last year that I saw the ecosystem that existed here, so many people working in IT and innovation, MedTech, and I looked around and thought this is how St. Louis looked to me two to three years ago. The ecosystem is really all here, your support and effort, but there is nothing focused with regard to agriculture. [A strong] industry for both Ireland and Missouri is agriculture, so we thought the model developed in St. Louis could work here in Galway.” Simons thanked Enterprise Ireland for its partnership in making the expansion happen, and announced that it had secured its first Irish investor the day before.

Joe Reagan, CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber, who made an investment into The Yield Lab toward this expansion, said: “Our connection with Yield Lab Galway will build a bridge here [in Galway] for our homebased fund that will increase trade markets for St. Louis startups. Irish startups coming into the fund looking for a US footprint will see St. Louis’ advantages firsthand.”

Closing out the delegation, Ambassador O’Malley spoke to the sister cities taking action: “The question for me is not will there be success from this if we want to. As I mentioned the other day, [my question is], why didn’t we do this earlier? This is the beginning of something that can be very important for all of us, economically and culturally, to enhance the cities we love.”

Speaking of culture, within five minutes of closing our delegation, it was announced that Galway was chosen as the winner of the European Capital of Culture. The delegation got to celebrate the success of our sisters and brothers in Galway, a perfect ending to the week.

What did other delegates take away from it?

Chris Dornfeld, President and Cofounder of Bonfyre, said: “My goals for the trip were to meet some interesting people, see some great architecture and generate some new business for Bonfyre. By every measure the trip exceeded expectations and it proved to be one of the most memorable weeks of my life. I was surprised by the economic potential for our region to serve as a gateway for european companies wanting to enter the US market, and the breadth of new friendships created with many of the other delegates from St. Louis.”

One of his key takeaways was that we as a region could do a better job of sharing the St. Louis innovation story both internally and with “other cities around the globe as we have a more vibrant innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem than most people know.”

Ginger Imster, Executive Director of Arch Grants, said: “I knew it would be a well curated trip because of the organizers, but I was overwhelmed by the warmth of our reception in Ireland. Ambassador O’Malley set the tone, and his hospitality, and that of his team, was truly overwhelming.In addition, our counterparts in Ireland were more forthcoming and enthusiastic about partnership than I had anticipated. That excitement meant my conversations were more productive from the very start because my Irish counterparts were already thinking collaboration and coordination.”

Imster spoke to Ireland’s long history of emigration and the fact that talent retention is as big a priority there as it is here. “As a result, our respective markets have a common goal. That said, multiple entrepreneur support organizations in Ireland know that their Irish startups want a presence in North America. Based on my conversations with my peers in Ireland, St. Louis could be the entry point and Arch Grants could be an effective partner in helping those companies create a North American presence in St. Louis. At the same time, we have companies in our portfolio that want to enter the European market. BREXIT means that Ireland is the last English speaking country in the EU. As a result, Ireland is a natural point of entry for our startups that want a dual presence in St. Louis and Europe. I have just begun conversations to explore how Arch Grants can partner with some of our host organizations in Ireland, and I’m hopeful our discussions ultimately result in some companies choosing to locate in both of our markets to the mutual benefit of St. Louis and Ireland. BioSTL is also working to assist Irish companies establish a North American presence in St. Louis, and we look forward to collaborating with BioSTL as circumstances allow.”

Who were the 30 delegates? See the list here.

St. Louis Startups And Innovation Leaders Join Delegation To Ireland And France

June 30, 2016
EQ Magazine
By Kelly Hamilton

Last summer, a group of 23 business and civic leaders traveled to Ireland on a trade delegation. It was upon the invitation of US Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley, a St. Louisan who practiced law at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale prior to his appointment. Over the course of seven days, the delegates met with business leaders in Dublin, Germany and London.

While the primary goal of that trip was to visit the European headquarters of businesses that have a significant presence in St. Louis, a pivotal moment came when the group met with a specific sector of Dublin’s business community: startups.

During an innovation roundtable hosted by MasterCard Technologies, the delegates were “blown away by Dublin’s startup community,” says Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center St. Louis. By the end of the delegation, “we had started putting together ideas on coming back. We thought, why don’t we build a delegation around that, and find ways to strengthen commercial ties?”

A follow-up trip was planned for this summer, this time with leaders and influencers in the tech and innovation community. Led by St. Louis County Executive, Steve Stenger and organized by his office as well as leaders at the World Trade Center St. Louis, the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and the offices of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the delegation is a mix of top leadership from some of St. Louis’ largest enterprises, startup founders, leaders of entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) and civic leaders.

When putting together the list of invited delegates, Nowak says, “We really tried to do so with an eye toward the leaders who could speak to the innovation story going on here in St. Louis. We wanted a group of people who are immersed in this story.”

Three Cities, One Goal
The purpose of this year’s delegation is to “strengthen commercial ties through innovation in three cities with which we share a unique relationship—Lyon, Dublin and Galway,” says Nowak.

St. Louis has long-standing relationships with Galway and Lyon, both sister cities to St. Louis through the Sister Cities International program. Those relationships have been in place since the 1970s, and there’s now an effort to find ways to enhance them.

An innovation seminar and shared discussion will take place in each of the three cities. Following tours of local startup accelerators and innovation centers, panel discussions moderated by St. Louis delegates will bring together St. Louisans and local community members.

Each city’s discussions will follow a theme: bioscience in Lyon, FinTech and IT in Dublin and AgTech and Tech in Galway.

The delegation begins in Lyon, France on July 10, travels to Dublin July 12 and wraps in Galway on July 15.

The delegates are:

Brian Wahby, Principal, Berrick Partnership
Cheryl Watkins-Moore, CEO & Founder, Accelerated Rehabilitation Technologies
Chris Motley, Founder & CEO, Better Weekdays
Chris Dornfeld, Founder & CEO, Bonfyre
Christine Karslake VP, Innovation and Entrepreneurship St. Louis Economic Development Partnership
David Hakanson Vice President, CIO & Chief Innovation Officer, Saint Louis University
Dennis Lower, President & CEO, Cortex
Dennis Riggs, Director, HEC-TV
Derek Naten, Sr. Director, Government Affairs & Advocacy Relations, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
Donn Rubin, President & CEO, BioSTL
Ginger Imster, Executive Director, Arch Grants
Henry Biggs, President, Eusabian Technologies
Jason Hall, General Counsel, St. Louis Regional Chamber
Joe Reagan, President & CEO, St. Louis Regional Chamber
Kelly Hamilton, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, EQ
Lori Becklenberg, Director, New Business Development, St. Louis Regional Chamber
Patrick Dolan, Chairman, County Council, St. Louis County
Peter Wyse Jackson, President, Missouri Botanical Garden
Pravina Pindoria, Chief Operating Officer, Tallyfy, Inc.
Robert Reeg, President, MasterCard
Ron Jones, Principal, Burns & McDonnell
Samira Boudiab, Chief of Staff, MasterCard
Sean Furman, Sr. Program Director-VITEK, BioMerieux
Sheila Sweeney, CEO, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership
Stella Sheehan, Deputy Director, World Trade Center St. Louis
St. Louis County Executive, Steve Stenger
Susan Powers, Communications Mgr., National Corn Growers Association
Thad Simons, Managing Director, The Yield Lab
Tim Hayden, Managing Director, Stadia Ventures Saint Louis University
Tim Nowak, Executive Director, World Trade Center St. Louis
Travis Sheridan, Executive Director, Venture Café of St. Louis
William Powderly, Director, Institute for Public Health, Washington University in St. Louis
William Donius, Author & Innovation Facilitator

Yield Lab Expanding to Europe

July 15, 2016
St. Louis Business Journal
By Brian Feldt

The Yield Lab, a St. Louis-based agtech accelerator that launched in 2014, plans to launch a new location in Galway, Ireland.
The Yield Lab is led by former Novus International CEO Thad Simons and financially backed by Cultivation Capital.

The expansion was announced Friday while a group of St. Louis startup leaders visited Ireland as part of a broader European trip focused on engaging and potentially recruiting international startups to St. Louis.

“We chose Galway because it is similar to St. Louis in proximity to vast agricultural production and innovation, especially in livestock,” said Matt Plummer, executive director of The Yield Lab. “It also provides our current St. Louis investments with a beachhead to new markets and alternative sources of capital.

Similar to the way it operates in St. Louis, The Yield Lab will invest €100,000 (or about $110,670) in four to six startups each year.

To date, The Yield Lab has invested just more than $1.1 million in 11 early-stage agtech companies from around the world. Those companies have gone on to raise $15 million in follow-on capital.

Investments in agtech startups reached a record $4.6 billion in 2015, or nearly double the $2.36 billion seeded by venture capitalists and others in 2014.

Plummer said the expansion is a big opportunity for St. Louis “as it creates a tangible, economic highway between our two regions to grow and expand much faster.”

St. Louis officials unveil regional export plan

June 28, 2016
Steph Kukuljan
St. Louis Business Journal

The World Trade Center St. Louis on Tuesday unveiled what officials call the region’s first integrated plan to grow exports and make the St. Louis region a top 10 market nationwide by 2020.

The goal, according to the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and its World Trade Center St. Louis, is to create a diversified economic base that is recognized for its growth, value and diversification. The Metro St. Louis Export Plan is the result of a year-long study conducted through the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase aimed at helping metropolitan economies increase their international competitiveness.

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World Trade Center Announces Export Plan & $125,000 In Additional Accelerate St. Louis Grants

June 28, 2016
By EQ Staff
EQ Magazine

Today, World Trade Center St. Louis is releasing a regional export plan that assesses the current export climate of St. Louis, sets goals for increasing exports and lays out a detailed implementation plan that local business, civic and government leaders will follow to promote St. Louis’ growth.

The plan is the culmination of a year-long study conducted through the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase. Launched in 2012, GCI helps business and civic leaders grow their metropolitan economies by strengthening international connections and competitiveness.
“Our goal is to help St. Louis companies open up new markets overseas,” said Sheila Sweeney, CEO, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. “Our World Trade Center St. Louis is highly skilled at helping companies navigate U.S. export regulations and making connections to customers in foreign markets.”

Exports are an under-used economic development tool and only a small percentage of U.S. firms currently export. This metropolitan export strategy will help St. Louis businesses capitalize on the growing consumer class outside the United States to strengthen the local economy and grow jobs at home, according to a press release issued today by the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.

One relevant stand-out metric from the report is export growth for services. Between 2003 and 2014 the report found exceptional growth in: Financial services (287 percent), technology (146 percent), management and legal (104 percent), information technology royalties (64 percent), and travel and tourism (22 percent). Travel and tourism management and information technology royalties are St. Louis’ main export services each at roughly $1 billion annually.

There’s More: New Funding for Startups Announced

As part of this rollout, JPMorgan Chase announced it is providing $125,000 to fund the first St. Louis Export Challenge in partnership with the annual Accelerate St. Louis Challenge. The donation will provide startup grants to businesses with the best exporting ideas.

“International trade provides a pathway for local businesses to create jobs, attract capital and grow our economy,” said Craig Horstmann, Region Manager, Commercial Bank, Chase. “JPMorgan Chase is proud to support the Metro St. Louis export program and hopes that our local businesses will take advantage of the program to help them discover new international markets. Their success will have a significant impact on our region’s future vitality and economic success.”

Applications for the St. Louis Export Challenge are currently open. All startups and small and medium size businesses with export ideas are encouraged to apply on the Accelerate St. Louis website. The deadline for submissions is 3pm on July 27.

Breakout Year for EKG

 

EKG LogoAt Innovative Technology Enterprises at UMSL (University of Missouri – St. Louis), we have created an environment that fosters the growth of a variety of companies, large and small. These companies are more than just their products or services. This series of articles seeks to illuminate some of the people that make our tenant companies great, and answer the question: what is going on inside ITE?

 

Going into an interview with Dr. Allen Kesselring, the original intent was to do a write up of recent developments at EKG Life Science Solutions. As it turns out, EKG has had quite the success these past several months.

“Over the last three years, we’ve been slowly growing in revenue, equipment, and employees. This last year has really been kind of a break-out year for us.”

After wrapping up 2015 with a successful Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration; the first half of 2016 has provided new employees; conference invitations to present as industry experts; and a recently completed flawless FDA inspection. 2016 has been the biggest year yet for EKG.

First of all: the DEA approval and registration. In December 2015, EKG underwent several days of interview and inspection, conducted by the DEA, in an effort to gain approval to conduct analytical testing involving controlled substances. This is in effect a boon to both Allen, and the group’s capability as a whole. The ability to work with controlled substances expands the group’s already impressive pharmaceutical service offerings and opens up myriad possible business directions and opportunities for testing and research.

Allen was recently invited to speak at the Smithers Rapra Extractables and Leechables 2016 conference. Speaking as an invited industry expert from EKG and their sub-group Vape Testing Labs, Allen discussed the variety of leechables associated with e-cigarettes. In non-technical terms, this affirms and validates the status of EKG as a scientific force in their field in the St. Louis region.

And yet again, just a few weeks ago, another department of the federal government arrived at ITE to check in on EKG. This time, it was the Food and Drug administration. The FDA routinely does comprehensive general inspections. They open cabinets; look at data and logbooks; check equipment; and generally scour the workspace looking for points of potential non-compliance. Typically , an organization getting inspected would expect one or two form “483s”, as small mistakes in documentation and other minor violations are quite common.  It is notable that over the course of a three day FDA audit, EKG didn’t receive a single observation or notice of violation.

This all relates to EKG’s ability to grow and hire. When they started, Jennifer Eagan, Allen Kesselring, and Katie Grayson separated from their former workplace. Having each worked together for eight years, they decided to form their own company (named after themselves), EKG. They started with no equipment or external staff, just the expertise and drive necessary to build from scratch in the St. Louis region.

“Because we had no equipment of our own, having access to university equipment was critical, we were routinely talking to professors saying ‘Hey can you test this for us?’ and/or ‘can we utilize your equipment to do this analysis?’ That was how it was for us in 2013.”

In 2015, EKG hired two interns and one full time employee. This trend continued in 2016 with yet another full time employee, and with their recent success they plan on continuing the trend and hiring more in 2017. Put another way, EKG is on a path to triple their footprint at ITE since they began operations.

All of this occurring over just a few months signals big things to come out of EKG in the future. To learn more, check out their website.

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Kevin Gleich is a graduate student in the University of Missouri – St. Louis’ Master of Fine Arts writing program. He produces content and manages communications for Innovative Technology Enterprises.

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