WESTBOROUGH - On Friday, July 24, 2020, a panel of expert judges declared Speakeasy Travel Supply of Cape Cod the winner of the first COVID-19 Intrapreneur Challenge, a competition focused on companies pivoting operations to produce general-use face masks. The Challenge featured pitches from 11 established Massachusetts companies, who pitched their designs and business plans aimed at addressing the ongoing public health challenge.
WESTBOROUGH, MA – Today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts launched a new project to boost the number of homegrown companies able to manufacture personal protective equipment or PPE, a critical need in the response to the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 Intrapreneur Challenge will be managed by Lever, a North Adams-based business accelerator and innovation support organization that will activate, connect, and focus companies as they pivot production capabilities to produce the materials necessary to combat the pandemic. The new effort will be supported by a $250,000 grant from the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the organization managing the Massachusetts Manufacturing Emergency Response Team (MERT).
BOSTON - May 21, 2020 —Today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced more than $9.5 million in grants to boost production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical materials needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Reopening Massachusetts plan. The new awards were made through the Manufacturing Emergency Response Team (M-ERT) to 15 grantees, including Massachusetts manufacturers, that are producing needed items such as masks, gowns, ventilators, swabs, and testing materials, and the capacity to test them.
SPRINGFIELD — Today, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito joined Assistant Secretary of Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for the Commonwealth Damon Cox, MassTech Executive Director Carolyn Kirk, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Senator Eric Lesser, Representative and Chair of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus (MBLLC) Carlos González, and other state and local leaders to announce the inaugural grant recipients from the Tech Talent Diversity Initiative, an effort aimed at boosting diversity in the Commonwealth’s technology and innovation sectors. The two competitive grants, totaling $469,234, were awarded to Tech Foundry of Springfield and to the New England Venture Capital Association’s Hack.Diversity program based in Boston, both of which are programs with track records of success in training and advancing diverse candidates into technology jobs.
WORCESTER – January 14, 2020 – Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy and Worcester Polytechnic Institute President Laurie Leshin joined leaders from across Central Massachusetts and the healthcare technology community to officially open the new PracticePoint facility at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The new research and development facility is located at WPI’s Gateway Park. Today’s event included a ribbon cutting, tours of the four innovative healthcare test beds housed in the facility and an industry-focused panel featuring companies that are members of the new center.
YARMOUTH – October 22, 2018 – Today, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash announced a $100,000 grant to a new partnership formed by Cape Cod Young Professionals, a Barnstable-based non-profit, and the Cape Cod branch of Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) to foster entrepreneurship on Cape Cod. EforAll is a non-profit which has had enormous success in driving inclusive entrepreneurship in mid-sized cities across Massachusetts. Over the next year, the grant will fund the launch of a new accelerator for the Cape region, a multi-week program designed to nurture the development of new businesses, and pitch events aimed at providing seed funding to founders with ideas for new businesses or social impact organizations.
SCITUATE – The Baker-Polito Administration announced the winners of the inaugural Seaport Economic Council Grand Challenge, awarding over $450,000 in grants to three organizations that will deploy Internet of Things, or ‘IoT’, technologies to boost economic development in the state’s marine economy. The projects, based in Buzzards Bay, New Bedford, Gloucester and Scituate, will use IoT to enable high-tech data analysis in commercial fisheries, deploy distributed sensors to help track lobster populations and create an online data portal that will allow researchers to track tidal flows and other data points in Commonwealth waters, information critical to energy and aquaculture companies.
WORCESTER – Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash announced an $80,000 grant to the organization Worcester Roots yesterday, an award that will support the development of cooperative businesses and non-profits in the region. The grant was awarded as part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s (MassTech) Entrepreneurship Mentoring Grant program, an effort that aims to develop strong mentorship ecosystems across the Commonwealth. During the roundtable event, which took place at Becker College’s Center for Global Citizenship, Secretary Ash spoke with graduates of Worcester Roots’ programs, who each highlighted the critical mentoring and resources they received, support that was critical to their success.
SPRINGFIELD – Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash announced $160,000 in grants to support entrepreneur mentoring programs at two organizations in the Pioneer Valley, Springfield’s Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) and SPARK in Holyoke. These grants were made under the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s (MassTech) Entrepreneurship & Mentoring Program, which aims to develop strong mentorship ecosystems in regions across the Commonwealth. The state’s investments will boost programs managed by VVM and SPARK which provide sustainable support for a range of innovative small businesses and non-profits, ranging from start-ups to companies that are ‘scaling up’ for planned expansions.
WOODS HOLE, MASS. – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) Center for Marine Robotics kicked off its 4th Annual Entrepreneur Showcase and Leadership Forum today with the official opening of a new pressure test facility that will help researchers and companies better develop innovative marine technologies. The new facility will allow WHOI to replicate the pressure of the deep ocean in an onshore facility which will more than triple the project capacity of its existing manually-operated system, allow for unattended 24/7 operations, and expand the ability of researchers and private firms to test their marine robotics and sensor systems.
