The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a sudden shift in operations focused largely on maintaining established and essential businesses, which appeared to leave many innovators and startup companies on their own to find new ways to continue to network, secure funding and track market trends. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, it is important for the entrepreneurship ecosystem to carry on operating as normal because maintaining momentum when entering a constantly evolving marketplace is crucial to successfully forming companies and commercializing inventions.
The Texas A&M New Ventures Competition (TNVC) recognizes the paramount importance of the state of Texas’ innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and, thus, swiftly converted its annual competition for innovators to a completely virtual delivery system in only two months, ensuring innovators, investors and mentors all over the state of Texas would be able to network with their peers and engage with potential business contacts, as well as have access to over $400,000 in funding and prizes.
“During a time when you can’t necessarily go and network at an incubator or business function, we put together a virtual event that connected several hundred people around entrepreneurial commercialization,” said Chris Scotti, chair of TNVC and entrepreneur-in-residence with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). “Even if people couldn’t meet in person, and with the pandemic in mind, it was even more crucial to the Texas economy that we provide a virtual space where they could engage instead.”
I’m looking forward to working with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station to support Texans seeking innovative solutions for the real world issues facing our state. The work being done will create cutting edge businesses with new, exciting job opportunities.
TNVC assists deep technology startups at a critical stage of commercialization with funding and connections, and it also provides an easy way for early stage investors to identify and fund Texas’ best startups. Taking these science and engineering technologies “from lab to market” not only benefits society with cutting edge inventions and research, it also fuels economic growth and builds stronger communities.
“During these uncertain times, this competition was one of the rare moments where the startup community can join together from afar to support one another and see the amazing things we are all doing even though many of us are working from home,” said Allotrope Medical’s Albert Huang, winner of 2020’s TNVC. “Innovation doesn’t stop, we just all have to adapt,” Huang added.
The state of Texas boasts five million jobs related to commercialized intellectual property (IP), and the jobs at these IP-intensive companies pay 29.7% higher than their IP-focused peers. Employees from more than 100 companies that TNVC has touched through their competition over the past six years have gone on to contribute in excess of $70 million in economic impact annually in Texas.
“I’m looking forward to working with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station to support Texans seeking innovative solutions for the real world issues facing our state,” said Texas Workforce Commission chairman Bryan Daniel. “The work being done will create cutting edge businesses with new, exciting job opportunities.”
TNVC hopes to grow their program through related events year round and also looks forward to being involved in regional and industry-focused feeder competitions throughout Texas, in cooperation with regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. Given the impressive virtual delivery of this year’s TNVC event, collaboration with others within and beyond The Texas A&M University System to help create similar virtual programs are also on the horizon.
“The TEES Commercialization & Entrepreneurship team is fully committed to working with our partners to grow TNVC to support our innovators across The Texas A&M University System, and also across the state of Texas,” said Dr. Saurabh Biswas, TEES executive director for commercialization and entrepreneurship. “This year's successful outcome reinforced for us the need and important role this event plays in the Texas innovation ecosystem, and we look forward to building up on this success in years to come.”