Mesas to Mountains innovation summit planned for Oct. 11-12

A partnership between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and three other Western universities is working to boost access to the innovation economy for underrepresented businesses in Alaska, New Mexico, Idaho and Montana.

The virtual Mesas to Mountains summit on Oct. 11-12 will bring together underrepresented businesses, federal program managers, experts and local organizations. Topics will include technology transfer, encouraging growth and development, and intellectual property protection.

Mesas to Mountains is funded by a $150,000 award from the 2021 Small Business Innovation Research Catalyst prize competition, offered through the United States Small Business Administration. Along with UAF, participants include New Mexico State University, Montana State University and the University of Idaho.

The initiative seeks to address gaps in access to the innovation economy for communities of color, women entrepreneurs and rural communities. The program helps guide businesses and entrepreneurs through agency selection, proposal creation, award management and commercialization practices.

“Alaska has many underrepresented businesses, and the SBIR Catalyst award and the Mesas to Mountains SBIR Accelerator allowed us, for the first time, to provide these businesses access to federal seed money,” said Evelyn Jacome, SBIR/STTR program manager for UAF’s Alaska Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.

To learn more about the free event or to register, please visit the M2M summit page. For more information, contact Evelyn Jacome.