CFI November Newsletter

WELCOME NORTHROP GRUMMAN

Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center Skalicky Tech Incubator 4200 James Ray Drive Grand Forks, ND 58203 Phone: 701-777-3132 Email: [email protected] Web: innovators.net

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

INNOVATE ND 2011 KICKOFF AND 2010 WINNERS

2

UNMANNED APPLICATIONS INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL AND UAS UPDATES

3

EB-5 REGIONAL CENTER AND RURAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

4

NOVEMBER ENTREPRENEUR FORUMS

5

Grand Forks, North Dakota November 2010

Center for Innovation Director Bruce Gjovig, far left, watches the official opening of the Northrop Grumman office in the Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center. Cutting the ribbon from left: George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president for Global Hawk programs; Bill Heigaard, military liaison to Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND); North Dakota Lt. Governor Jack Dalrymple; Russ Rumbaugh, representing Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND); and Ryan Aasheim, representing Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

The region’s rapidly grow-ing unmanned aircraft sys-tems (UAS) industry cele-brated a milestone on May 21, 2010, with an official ribbon cutting to open the Northrop Grumman office in the Ina Mae Rude Entre-preneur Center.

The new office will support Northrop Grumman's RQ-4

Global Hawk aircraft arriv-ing at Grand Forks Air Force Base next year.

Bruce Gjovig, director of the Center for Innovation, said the incubator is able to serve as a beachhead for Northrop Grumman as they establish operations in Grand Forks that could eventually employ more

than 100 people and attract suppliers and subcontractors as the number of Global Hawk aircraft increases.

More photos from the event can be found on the back of this month’s Incubator News. An update on other UAS industry developments at the Center for Innovation can be found on page 3.

PAGE 2 Center for Innovation

INNOVATE ND 2011 ENROLLMENT NOW OPEN

What would you do with $15,000? Innovate ND wants to know! The 5th annual Innovate ND competition is now open to entrepreneurs and innova-tors for enrollment. Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, ND Commerce Commissioner Shane Goettle and a state-wide network of partners kicked off Innovate ND 2011 during Marketplace of Ideas in Fargo in September. An increased cash prize of $15,000 was announced.

Innovate ND is a statewide initiative designed to help entrepreneurs turn innova-tive concepts into viable new ND business ventures. Since the program started in 2006, nearly 700 individuals and 350 teams have partici-pated in the competition as well as educational compo-nent of the program. Inno-vate ND is organized by the ND Department of Com-merce, the UND Center for Innovation and the NDSU

Research and Technology Park.

For a $250 enrollment fee, participants get access to a proven venture-building process and a chance to win one of five $15,000 cash prizes along with a package of in-kind services to help them launch and grow their business. To enroll your business idea for the Inno-vate ND 2011 competition, visit www.innovatend.com.

Deadline for entries: November 12

Mark your

calendar!

Round one:

November 12, 2010 Deadline for Idea Executive

Summary Submission

November 13-21, 2010 Judging

November 29, 2010

Idea Executive Summary Feedback

For a complete list of important dates for

Innovate ND 2011, visit www.innovatend.com.

CONGRATULATIONS! INNOVATE ND 2010 WINNERS

Idea Champions Unranked Clean Republic, Erik Edison, Hou Yong and Michael Shope of Grand Forks

Dogs IDS, Clint and Lori Howitz of Fargo

Ridge Rite, Dean Onchuck of Mooreton

Dean Floyd Toilet Boot, Ron Nissen of Minot

ZoneMAP, Craig Helgason, Xiaodong Zhang, Jordan Schuetzle, and Ryan Wanzek of Grand Forks

Elevator Pitch

Competition

1st Place - URL Radio, Nicole Morrison-Mathern and Stacy Sturm of Bismarck 2nd Place - SunAir Power LLC, Josh Goldade of Grand Forks 3rd Place - SignFYI, Ryan Maikowski, Shane O’Keefe, Grant Hadlich, and Kyle Foerster of Grand Forks

People’s Choice Award

EMC2, Camerin Hahn, Ashley Putnam, Scott Gavett, and Mohit Dhawan of Grand Forks

In the Zone Award

Outermost Layer, Jason Overland and Sally and Eric Loeffler of Fargo

Visit www.innovatend.com to learn more about these winning business ventures.

EMC2, Grand Forks

ZoneMAP, Grand Forks

Clean Republic, Grand Forks


UNMANNED APPLICATIONS INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL IS FORMED TO SUPPORT UAS INDUSTRY CLUSTER

Unmanned Applications Insti-tute International (UAII) has been established to bridge industry partners, government agencies and educational institutions in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research and robotic technologies. The Center for Innovation in partnership with Brown Corporations helped launch UAII, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and testing organization.

As the first of its kind in North Amer-ica, UAII has targeted the following goals in support of airborne, ground and water/submersible unmanned systems:

Providing world-class support to the advancement of unmanned system technology for government and civil applications.

Developing industry partnerships for accelerated support.

Focusing advanced research to achieve tomorrow’s technology.

UAII founders and directors, Michael P. Corcoran and Tom K. Kenville,

have extensive backgrounds in the UAS industry, including government, politi-cal, commercial, and financial arenas. Corcoran was the founding director of air operations for the Unmanned Air-craft Systems Operations Center – North Dakota for the Department of Homeland Security. He is the applied technology program manager for Ulteig Engineers where he develops unmanned programs within a corporate environ-ment to support both government and civil applications.

Kenville has over 20 years of non-profit leadership experience in avia-tion and entrepreneurial companies. He chairs the Valley Angel Investment Fund and has raised millions through equity and philanthropy. Kenville has been an entrepreneur since 2000 and has vast experience in high growth international aviation-related entre-preneurial businesses.

UAII proving grounds are located just 15 minutes south of the Univer-

sity of North Dakota and UAII head-quarters at the Brown Corporations Business Park (BCBP). BCBP features small, medium and large UAV housing that is heated, private and secure; air, ground and water system testing and remote sensing test range with four-season and all-weather operations; and testing and training complex for small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS), ground and small submersible un-manned systems.

For more information on UAII and its developments in the UAS industry, visit www.uaiinternational.org.

UAS INDUSTRY TAKES OFF IN NORTH DAKOTA

With the emergence of industry-related business ventures, educational programs and other support organizations, North Dakota is becoming a key player in the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) indus-try.

The Center for Innovation and the Un-manned Applications Institute Interna-tional (UAII) were exhibitors and spon-sors for the 2010 UAS Action Summit co-hosted by the Red River Valley Re-search Corridor, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan and University of North Dakota Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence. The summit focused on the

future of UAS in the 21st century, air-space integration and building a regional UAS industry. U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz was the keynote speaker.

Michael P. Corcoran, UAII co-founder and co-director, presides over the newly formed Great Plains Chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehi-cle Systems International (AUVSI). The Great Plains Chapter has been joined by more than 25 UAS in-dustry-related companies, schools and other organizations from North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.

AUVSI is the world's largest organiza-tion devoted exclusively to advancing unmanned systems.

“The UAS industry is taking notice of North Dakota, and the future looks good for industry-related companies and schools in our state.” Tom K. Kenville, UAII co-founder and co-director


CENTER FOR INNOVATION FOUNDATION APPLIES FOR EB-5 REGIONAL CENTER STATUS

ENTREPRENEUR ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FOR VENTURES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

The Center for Innovation Foun-dation recently applied to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to become an EB-5 Regional Center for all of North Dakota and 20 counties in Northwest Minnesota. The U.S. Investor Pilot Program, also known as the EB-5 Regional Center, is a job creation visa program designed to stimulate economic activity and create jobs for U.S. workers, while provid-ing eligible foreign investors the opportunity to become perma-nent residents.

The purpose of establishing the Center for Innovation as an EB-5 Regional Center is to:

Attract foreign direct invest-

ment into North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota in order to generate economic develop-ment, create new jobs and in-crease domestic capital invest-ment in growth ventures.

Create partnerships between American private investors and international investors in order to strengthen investment deals proposed by the EB-5 Regional Center as well as attract new investors.

Facilitate creation of direct and indirect jobs through EB-5 immigrant investment projects.

The EB-5 Regional Center appli-cation was submitted to the US-CIS in April 2010 and is currently pending approval. Approval is

anticipated within 12 months.

The Center for Innovation con-tinues to foster national and in-ternational relationships and is communicating with other EB-5 regional centers to learn from their experiences. Dr. Yong Hou, International Entrepreneur Coach at the Center for Innova-tion, has identified and begun discussions with foreign investors in Shanghai, China who are inter-ested in EB-5 immigrant invest-ment projects. Other target countries include Brazil, India and South Korea.

For more information, contact Rodrigo Cintra at the Center for Innovation, (701) 777-3132 or [email protected].

The Cooperstown-Griggs County Economic Develop-ment Council is offering no-cost or low cost assistance to rural ventures through the Rural Technical Assistance Program, a project funded through a Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) from the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture. The services are provided by the Center for Innovation’s staff and are avail-able to entrepreneurs in rural communities statewide.

The program provides develop-ment assistance to ventures in need of business plans, market analysis and research, feasibility studies and other similar projects.

The program also assists entre-preneurs by preparing them to access capital and raising their level of knowledge and sophisti-cation in working with potential investors and economic develop-ment groups.

To be eligible for the program, the enterprise or entrepreneur must meet the following criteria:

1. Located in a rural area or city up to 5,000 in population

2. Fewer than 50 employees

3. Expected annual gross reve-nue of less than $1 million

4. Not delinquent on any fed-eral government debt

5. Majority ownership by U.S. citizen(s).

For more information on the Rural Technical Assistance Pro-gram, contact Becky Meid-inger at the Cooperstown-G r i g g s C o u n t y E D C , ( 7 0 1 ) 7 9 7 - 3 7 1 2 o r [email protected], or Eric Veidel at the Center for Innovation, (701) 777-3132 or [email protected].

To learn about RBEG and other rural development grant assis-tance provided by the U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, visit www.rurdev.usda.gov.


FOR MORE INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF FUTURE ENTREPRENEUR FORUM EVENTS VISIT WWW.INNOVATORS.NET

NOVEMBER ENTREPRENEUR FORUMS

The Center for Innovation will feature UND alumnus and successful entrepreneur Brooks Burgum as part of the ongoing Entrepreneur Forum series. Brooks is a co-founder of Longwater Opportunities and Sun Plains Group LLC.

Brooks jumpstarted his career at the fast paced Minneapolis Grain Exchange where he bought and sold futures in the trading pit “old school” style. After learning the trading business, Brooks went to work in the finance depart-

ment of a company called Gemstone Development.

Brooks co-founded a company called Longwater Opportuni-ties in 2009 to focus on the light manufacturing space sec-tor. Longwater Opportunities invests in solid companies with topnotch business culture and dedicated employees. The company’s goal is to stream-line processes and grow an already stable business into a world class enterprise by shar-ing operational expertise with the motivated management

team.

Brooks is also a co-founder of the Sun Plains Group LLC, which focuses on engineering as well as developing and building low income homes in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Brooks is a native of Arthur, North Dakota and graduated from the University of North Dakota with a B.A. in Politi-cal Science in 2006. He cur-rently resides in Dallas, Texas, where Longwater Opportunities is located.

BROOKS BURGUM, UND ALUMNUS AND CO-FOUNDER OF PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH • 3:30 P.M. • IDEA LAB

TIM WESTERGREN, FOUNDER AND CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER OF PANDORA INTERNET RADIO TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH • 5:00 P.M. • IDEA LAB

The Center for Innovation and the Dakota Venture Group will feature success-ful entrepreneur Tim Westergren as part of the ongoing Entrepreneur Fo-rum series. Tim founded Pandora internet radio in January 2000 and now serves as its chief strategy officer.

Tim is an award-winning composer, an accomplished musician and a record pro-ducer with 20 years of ex-perience in the music indus-try. He has recorded with independent labels, man-

aged artists, owned a com-mercial digital recording studio, scored feature films, produced albums, and per-formed extensively.

Tim received his B.A. from Stanford University, where he studied computer acous-tics and recording technol-ogy. A musician's musician, he is obsessed with helping talented emerging artists connect with the music fans most likely to appreciate their music.

Pandora gives people music they love anytime, any-

where, through connected devices. Personalized sta-tions launch instantly with the input of a single “seed” – a favorite artist, song or genre.

The Music Genome Pro-ject®, a deeply detailed, hand-built musical taxon-omy, powers Pandora's per-sonalization – using musico-logical “DNA” and constant listener feedback to craft personalized stations from a growing collection of hun-dreds of thousands of re-cordings. More than 65 mil-lion people have registered to

listen to Pandora on their computers, phones and con-sumer electronic devices. Their personalized radio sta-tions make up more than half of all online radio listening.


KIDS RULE IN MINI-SOCIETY SUMMER CAMPS

This summer 150 young entrepreneurs, ages 8-13, and 19 classroom teachers created mini-societies across the state of North Dakota. During these hands-on, fun-focused summer camps, students and teachers created their own town, designed their own currency, opened businesses, organized a town council and elected leaders. Participants went behind the scenes at local businesses and met area business, political and cultural leaders. Kids and teachers be-came business owners and civic partners.

The goal of the Mini-Society Summer Camps organized by the ND Youth En-trepreneurship Education Program and sponsored by the Center for Innovation and the Dakota Foundation is to give youth and teachers the authentic experi-ence of entrepreneurship while building a better community through individual initiative and collaborative action. Youth learn to think and act as entrepreneurs and community leaders. They apply

their academic, social and technological skills in a true-to-life environment. Teachers learn how entrepreneurial thinking in the classroom can be an ef-fective strategy for meeting many of their student achievement goals.

For more information on the ND Youth Entrepreneurship Education Program, c o n t a c t B a r r y S t r i e g e l a t (701) 738-4812 or [email protected].

Visit

Ndyoung

Entrepreneurs

.org

To learn more

About the

ND Youth

Entrepreneurship

Education

Program

CITIZENS OF THE ROCKWOOD MINI-SOCIETY IN CAVALIER

CREATING PRODUCTS IN THE ITOP MINI-SOCIETY IN NEW TOWN

KEEPING CITIZENS OF THE ITOP MINI-SOCIETY IN NEW TOWN INFORMED

OPEN FOR BUSINESS IN THE ROCKWOOD MINI-SOCIETY IN CAVALIER

LEARNING FROM SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS AT DAKOTA HARVEST BAKERS IN GRAND FORKS

A YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR IN WILLISTON


WELCOME!

NEW INCUBATOR TENANTS:

LIBERA, INC.

XIAODONG ZHANG, JORDAN SCHUETZLE & RYAN WANZEK

~

NORTHROP GRUMMAN

JOHN SCHULLER ~

ULTEIG MICHAEL P. CORCORAN

~

STUDENT

ENTREPRENEURS:

BARRY PRODUCTS PATRICK BARRY

~

FIELD OF VIEW, LLC

JONATHAN ALME ~

LOGO TOURNAMENT MOLLY MAHAR

~

TRIPLE F’S VENTURES JASON KES

~

TENANT UPDATE: CLEAN REPUBLIC

CENTER FOR INNOVATION WELCOMES NEW STAFF

The Center for Innovation has added two new staff since the beginning of 2010.

Eric Veidel, SBIR (Small Business Innovation Re-search) Director & Technol-ogy Commercialization and Entrepreneur Consultant, joined the center in January and specializes in engineering entrepreneurship. Eric is a graduate of the University of North Dakota, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to the Center for Innovation, Eric held engineering positions at Bobcat Company and Nodak Electric Cooperative. As a small business owner himself, Eric has an eye for opera-tional assembly. Recently, as an alumni and trustee of Da-kota Venture Group, he took his experience and founded Student-Run Venture Funds, LLC, which helps universities

and students start private equity investment funds. Eric is also currently involved in starting a non-profit organi-zation to facilitate amateur athletic competitions in Grand Forks. (701) 777-6623, [email protected]

Tiffany Roberts, Adminis-trative Secretary (a.k.a. Di-rector of Chaos), joined the center in August. She is the friendly face and voice greet-ing incubator tenants and visitors at the front desk. In addition to serving as the receptionist, Tiffany sched-ules and coordinates meetings and events in the Board Room and Idea Lab. Tiffany holds a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Park and Tour-ism Sciences from Texas A & M University. She has worked for government, non-profit and for-profit organi-zations, including the Na-

tional Park Service, Denton Main Street, Humane Soci-ety, Arrow Trucking, and Tulsa Parks. With Denton Main Street, she worked with local business leaders to pro-mote the downtown business district and historic court-house square. During this time, she developed an ex-citement for entrepreneur-ship. Tiffany recently moved to Grand Forks from Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband Darrin and their rabbit Smokey. Although she is a native Texan, Tiffany is no stranger to Sioux Country. She lived on the Grand Forks Air Force Base over 20 years ago and has visited the state over the years with her hus-band who is a native of Cando. Tiffany is an avid crafter and outdoor enthusi-ast. (701) 777-3132, [email protected]

Clean Republic, LLC, an Innovate ND 2010 Idea Champion, has shifted the sales and marketing of its Hill Topper electric bike conver-sion kit into high gear. Coor-dinating a social media and viral marketing campaign through Facebook, YouTube and the company’s website, www.CleanRepublic.com, has proven to be successful. CEO Michael Shope reports Clean Republic has attracted more than 700 Facebook fans and over 600,000 YouTube video views.

Having completed an in-team search engine optimization (SEO) project for his com-pany’s newly republished website, Shope anticipates a 20% increase in web traffic over the next two months at no additional marketing cost. With the website SEO struc-ture in place, the Clean Re-public team is working on visual and feature changes to convert website viewers into customers.

Clean Republic’s combined sales and marketing effort has recently resulted in its high-

est monthly revenue of $45,000. This translates to 1,000 units in the field in 14 different countries.

In addition to growing its presence on the internet, the Clean Republic team contin-ues to network and search for investing partners. The com-pany has secured a develop-ment deal with the Dakota Venture Group and had great networking success at the Interbike International Bicy-cle Expo in Las Vegas in Sep-tember.

Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center

Norm Skalicky Tech Incubator 4200 James Ray Drive

Grand Forks, ND 58203

Address Service Requested

Phone: 701-777-3132 Fax: 701-777-2339

E-mail: [email protected]

THE CENTER FOR INNOVATION HELPS ENTREPRENEURS, STUDENTS AND RESEARCHERS LAUNCH NEW TECHNOLOGIES, PRODUCTS AND VENTURES, DEVELOP BUSINESS AND MARKETING

PLANS, ACCESS TALENT OF UNIVERSITIES AND SECURE VENTURE FINANCING. WE ARE A DIVISION OF THE

UND COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.

V I S I T U S O N T H E W E B : I N N O V A T O R S . N E T

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Grand Forks, ND

58201 PERMIT NO. 10

Above: Close-up of a 1/10th scale model of the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a high altitude, long-endurance un-manned aerial reconnaissance system.

Above and Right: More than 100 business and government leaders

welcome Northrop Grumman and Global Hawk to the Ina Mae

Rude Entrepreneur Center.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN RIBBON CUTTING, CONTINUED

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CFI November Newsletter