Arrowhead launches accelerator for agricultural tech
program will help guide more of its own technology and innovation to market, said Terry Lombard, Arrowhead director of intellectual property and technology transfer.
“All the technologies coming out of NMSU can be licensed for commercialization through AgSprint, even for a trial period to decide afterwards if they want to pursue it,” Lombard said. “We hope that people will see all the exciting technologies available at NMSU, and license them to build companies and take them to market.”
The university is continually developing new, potentially marketable innovation in agricultural crops, water, energy and ag-related equipment. It’s already commercializing things such as organic pesticides and fertilizers, machines to better grow and harvest chile, and algae-based biofuels.
AgSprint is financed with federal grants received by Arrowhead from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration and from sources such as the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program.
Arrowhead received a $300,000 NSF award last year to become an iCorps program site, allowing it to provide grants of up to $2,000 each for 30 startups annually. Each AgSprint participant will receive a $2,000 grant at the start of the program. After graduating from the accelerator, they become eligible to apply for up to $50,000 in iCorps program grants.
Some funds from a $200,000 grant that Arrowhead received last December from Emera Inc., the Canadian firm that acquired the New Mexico Gas Co. last summer, is also helping. Those funds will allow AgSprint to offer up to three micro-grants of up to $650 each for every AgSprint participant to help cover business development expenses, such as hiring patent attorneys, website developers or technical writers, Sloan said.
Accelerator participants will also gain access to a broad network of mentors, business consultants, industry partners, technical assistance programs, grant and debt financiers, and investors. That includes eligibility to apply for investment from the new Arrowhead Innovation Fund, established last year with money from the NMSU Foundation and private investors to offer $50,000 to $150,000 in seed funding to startups connected to Arrowhead and the university.
Applications for the first AgSprint cohort will be accepted through March 10. For more information, visit arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/agsprint.