For more information:Kari Bonaro, kbonaro@bnmc-old.local
716-218-7157, 202-904-7034 (mobile)
Susan Kirkpatrick skirkpatrick@bnmc-old.local
716-866-8002 (mobile)
Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC Inc.) Launches “Ignite” to Support Entrepreneurship and Create New Local Businesses
BUFFALO, N.Y. November 24, 2014 — The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC Inc.) announced today that it has formally launched Ignite, a full complement of resources designed to identify, evaluate, and support new business opportunities for the purpose of creating and incubating all types of new companies and jobs in the Buffalo region.
Ignite is a program for new business development that actively facilitates collaboration among researchers, inventors, industry leaders, investors, students, and services providers. It includes workspace, business services, mentoring, access to capital, programming, networking opportunities and collaboration to help entrepreneurs and innovators move ideas into businesses that can create jobs.
Ignite offers a continuum of resources to entrepreneurs at every stage of business development, including those who just have an idea for a business to those who are much farther along in the development and commercialization of a product, technology platform, or service. Ignite includes existing resources offered through BNMC Inc, including dig, a co-working space designed for those in the early stage of developing a business or idea, as well as office and laboratory space, mentoring and networking for emerging companies currently offered at BNMC properties including the Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center at 640 Ellicott Street, BNMC’s life sciences incubator at 73 High Street, and the Innovation Center Annex at 847 Main Street.
Services offered through Ignite include initial evaluation of business ideas, guidance on developing a business plan, education and mentoring on a variety of business design and launch strategies, connections to experts who can help move ideas to the next stage, and a full complement of networking events.
According to Vic Nole, BNMC Inc. Director of New Business Development, Ignite unites BNMC’s business development services under one unified identity and is one more step in fostering entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration with the overall goal of creating more jobs in the region. “In addition to providing workspace, business services, and networking opportunities, we will be pro-active is identifying, evaluating, incubating and helping to grow start-up companies. We believe that cultivating this entrepreneurial eco-system will provide a culture of innovation and collaboration while providing the tools necessary to further develop ideas into viable businesses,” said Nole.
BNMC Inc. operates the Innovation Center, a LEED-certified research and development space housing early stage companies, as well as companies offering support services like access to capital, intellectual property attorneys, talent acquisition, accounting, sales, and marketing. The space is designed to accommodate small to medium companies seeking office space, wet lab and/or research space. The Suites at the Innovation Center is an incubator that offers physical and virtual office space on a month-to-month basis and includes telephone and Internet access. The Innovation Center also houses dig, a collaborative co-work space created to help people turn their idea into a business.
Ignite will work together with other partners and local incubators to ensure that young companies are connected to the right resources and networking opportunities to support their business growth. Companies from all industry segments, including non-profit organizations are welcome to take advantage of Ignite resources.
BNMC Inc. also encourages larger established companies to get involved with Ignite through sponsorships or other partnerships that can provide opportunities for new companies in Buffalo’s emerging start-up community to connect to established industry sectors.
Individuals or companies interested in Ignite can contact Vic Nole at (716) 310-5288 or vnole@bnmc-old.local, or can stop by dig at 640 Ellicott Street on the Medical Campus to learn more.
About the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc.
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC Inc.) is a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. It serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community. bnmc-old.local.
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