MTEC SmartZone

Very proud of our team and this program for a great run in 2024. Excited for what the 2025 cohort will accomplish!

2024 - A Year of Growth, Innovation, and Impact 🚀✨ At MTEC SmartZone, we’ve proudly supported our community with a growing innovation ecosystem. Together, we’ve seen: 🔹 127 Unique Businesses Served 🔹 52 Jobs Created 🔹 12 New Companies Launched 🔹 $74.9M Additional Funding Raised As we look to 2025, we’re excited to continue driving economic growth and shaping the next wave of innovation. Here's to another year! 🥂 #MTECSmartZonne #2024impact #SmartZoneImpact

In Michigan, even the sky isn’t the limit. For Lyon (Brad) King, the path to becoming a rocket scientist always led back home to Michigan. Born and raised in Calumet in the Upper Peninsula, King pursued his love of aerospace at the University of Michigan, earning multiple degrees in rocket science. Despite career opportunities that took him to Colorado and beyond, his heart remained in Michigan. Determined to live where he loved, King created his dream job, founding Orbion Space Technology in 2016 and building advanced satellite propulsion systems that are revolutionizing the space industry. Orbion thrusters now guide satellites for Earth observation, communication, and more, all manufactured in Houghton. With support from organizations like the MEDC and MTEC SmartZone, King tapped into Michigan’s unparalleled entrepreneurial ecosystem. “Michigan is set up to do mass production of vehicles, even ones that fly in space,” he says, crediting the state’s manufacturing expertise, research universities, and venture capital for Orbion’s success. For King, the answer is clear: Michigan offers the perfect mix of opportunity, resources, and quality of life to make even the biggest dreams—like building a rocket company—a reality.

Applications for our 2025 AMMP Accelerator Program open up in January! Excited for year two of this program, it's incredible to see the growth of these companies in 3 months. More information at https://lnkd.in/eU6Edmxc

Congratulations to Steelhead Technologies on securing $12.5 million series b funding. Another exciting milestone for Steelhead 👏 https://lnkd.in/g-JpjYY4

2024 was our first year of the AMMP Accelerator Program. We successfully executed 14 weeks of entrepreneurial programming, including 60 classes, 40 guest lecturers, 180 class hours, and over 3000 branded content pages. Throughout the program, the cohort had Expert-Led Guest mentorship opportunities. This included 17 office hours focusing on legal, accounting, manufacturing, and operations during the accelerator period. We are excited to take this program, which was developed in 2024 and expanded into 2025. Stay tuned for more details on our 2025 AMMP Accelerator.

Celebrating National Women Entrepreneurship Day – Today we focus on some of the amazing entrepreneurs in our ecosystem. Highlighting their journey to pursue their entrepreneurial ventures. Read the full article of some of our incredible entrepreneurs: https://lnkd.in/gXj-XGDm #MTECSmartZone #WomenEntrepreneurshipDay #EntrepreneurialJourney

Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs – Ellen R Campbell, CEO of NECi Superior Enzymes NECi Superior Enzymes is a women-owned business located in UP that specializes in designing and producing recombinant proteins for inclusion in quantification test kits. The company was founded in 1993 using Dr. W.H. (Bill) Campbell's academic research on plant metabolism as the foundation. After their initial work was published in Nature and attracted a flurry of inquiries, Dr. Campbell and Ellen R. Campbell plunged headlong into the business world. Located in Lake Linden, MI Ellen expressed how location can impact your journey to commercializing. “Starting a business in a small university town can be a great path,” added Ellen. “Qualified candidate employees and affordable real estate - for your company and for employee housing - are more available.  Quality of life is highly valued these days.” We mention it a lot, but we are very fortunate here in Houghton County to have an incredible ecosystem of support for these entrepreneurs! Read Ellen's extended entrepreneur story on our Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Article that will be posted tomorrow! #MTECSmartZone #WomenEntrepreneurs #EntrepreneurialJourney 

Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs – Valerie Obenchain, Founder and CEO of Advanced Interactive Response Systems (AIRS). Valerie founded AIRS in 2013 to bring oxygen solutions to the market. As a respiratory therapist who had a grandmother on supplemental oxygen therapy, she had first-hand experience with the lack of oxygen systems in the market. AIRS produces high-quality safety and monitoring products that improve patient health and caregiver performance. As a women entrepreneur, Valerie expressed her biggest challenge has been raising funds for the regulatory verification and validation process. “Women have been known to have great leadership skills, including time management, prioritizing, and multitasking,” added Valerie. “However, when it comes to funding, most of the money goes to men.” We need more investors to fund women-owned businesses and close that gap between men-owned businesses. Read Valerie's extended entrepreneur story on our Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Article that will be posted tomorrow on #NationalWED #MTECSmartZone #WomenEntrepreneurs #EntrepreneurialJourney 

Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs – Jordan Ruth Craven, Co-Founder and CEO of Sizeologic "I always knew I wanted to start my own company- the only question was what that company would be.” - Jordan Craven. Jordan co-founded Sizeologic in 2021 after growing up with the dream of starting her own business. Sizeologic transforms the way we shop online for clothes. Most of us know the frustration when we get a new pair of jeans online, and they don’t fit right. Jordan’s technology creates a virtual 3D fitting room that allows you to see how an article of clothing fits before you buy the product online!  A Michigan Tech graduate and proud member of the Keweenaw community, Jordan is extremely grateful for the ecosystem that supported her journey up to this point. “YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE,” added Jordan. “I am so thankful to be a part of this ecosystem and for the continued assistance from the MTEC SmartZone.” Read Jordan's extended entrepreneur story on our Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Article that will be posted on November 19th. #MTECSmartZone #WomenEntrepreneurs #EntrepreneurialJourney