Hoosier entrepreneurs, small business owners encouraged to leverage IN-STEP program to market, sell Indiana-made products to international markets
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) secured $300,000 in competitive grant funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to support the export activities of Hoosier small businesses through the Indiana State Trade and Export Promotion (IN-STEP) grant program. IN-STEP, which launched in 2020, helps Indiana small businesses develop and expand export-related activities, opening up new international markets for Hoosier-made goods around the world.
“In Indiana, we’re focused on building a global economy of the future, and our Hoosier entrepreneurs and small businesses will be critical to advancing future-focused innovations and solutions,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg. “Indiana ranks in the top 15 states for exporting, and the IN-STEP program aims to build on this momentum, helping more Hoosier small businesses reach customers in international markets and find success in the global economy.”
IN-STEP is designed to help small businesses identify, market and sell their products or services around the world. Through the program, eligible companies can receive reimbursements of costs associated with export-related activities, such as participating in international trade missions, trade shows and export educational programs, as well as other export services provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce. This new grant funding will be available to Indiana companies beginning Oct. 1, 2023, through September 2025, or until all funds are distributed.
Since the program’s launch less than four years ago, IN-STEP has helped 65 Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses with 102 projects to start or expand export activity across six continents. These businesses have reported export sales $20.7 million for grant-support activities, generating an approximate return on investment of $26 for every grant dollar invested.
Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses are encouraged to apply for export assistance through IN-STEP. To be eligible:
The business must be in operation for at least one year;
The business must be new to exporting or market expansion;
The business must be in accordance with SBA size standards, which categorizes small businesses based on measures like industry, number of employees and annual receipts. Use the SBA’s Size Standards Tool to see if your company qualifies; and
The business’ goods must be made in the U.S. or composed of at least 51% U.S. material.
Learn more and apply for export assistance through IN-STEP online. Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses are also encouraged to connect with statewide resources and leverage the support of ecosystem navigators at ConnectIND, a digital portal available in 11 languages that is designed to increase support for entrepreneurs and founders, powering Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
How does a recovering journalist make her way into diagnostics? Answer: agriculture (or as she puts it, the cornerstone of human civilization). Tamara Leigh, EIO Diagnostics Co-Founder and CEO, joins us from the Rally Innovation Conference to talk about artificial intelligence and machine learning as a tool for detection and prevention of mastitis in dairy cows. As “super athletes of lactation,” she gets into dairy cows’ productivity, the importance of being able to detect for mastitis and how the EIO Diagnostics is integrated into dairy operations.
How is the dairy industry evolving? Tamara talks about perception versus reality, dairy being more than just beverages and driving efficiency to create sustainability and profitability for farmers and the planet. She also talks about their solution being shaped by farmers, gleaning innovative inspiration from other sectors and what’s ahead for EIO Diagnostics.
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Agbioscience was in Melbourne, Australia last week for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress – a gathering of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, investors and organizations from more than 120 counties – all focused on supporting startups and building the economy of the future. During the conference, the United States – particularly Indiana took center stage. Today we are joined by Mark Marich, EVP of the Global Entrepreneurship Network and David Watkins, Senior Vice President of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, to talk about the conference and its future plans to bring the conference to Indiana in 2025.
Helping entrepreneurs flourish is what the Global Entrepreneurship Network does – no matter where they are located across the globe. Mark and David get into what the conference entails, why they chose Indiana as their destination for 2025 and the rapidly evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem across the state. Indianapolis will be the first U.S. city to host the conference since it was originally founded and there will be a chance for Indiana to spotlight its entrepreneurs. What people can do ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress to prepare for what’s to come? All that and more is here; learn more.
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20 Startups from Across the Globe will Compete to Win a Combined Total of $3 Million in Prize Money at Upcoming Summit Nov. 14-15
An ag-tech startup launched by a Purdue University researcher-entrepreneur to strengthen worldwide food security could soon win a million dollars and garner international recognition.
LeafSpec LLC has been named one of 20 international startups to compete for $3 million in total prize money during the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit in mid-November. The company has an exclusive license to manufacture and sell patent-pending, Purdue-developed, handheld plant phenotyping technology. Plant phenotyping is the process of measuring and studying the physical characteristics of plants, including their growth, development and response to environmental factors.
“LeafSpec is an accurate, affordable and portable hyperspectral crop leaf scanner,” Jin said. “Our handheld device and software can provide accurate and early detection of plant diseases, nutrient deficiencies and stresses from chemical sprays. This is done within seconds without damage to the plant.
“It then relays the measurement results to a farmer’s or scientist’s smartphone. This information can guide users to make quicker and smarter decisions on fertilizing, spraying and irrigation, saving their cost and improving the yield. The result is improved food security: additional crop resiliency and production that leads to more crops available for harvest and worldwide consumption.”
The Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit
The Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit is an annual competition that identifies, supports and funds global agriculture, food and beverage innovations. Awards include a $1 million grand prize, two $500,000 prizes and four $250,000 prizes.
Jin said there are additional benefits to LeafSpec being a Grow-NY finalist.
“Winning the prize money would impact our business, of course, but we will also receive dedicated mentorship from a business advisor and networking introductions and tours with potential partners during Grow-NY,” Jin said. “It also will be informative to connect with the other finalists: agriculture, food and beverage entrepreneurs from across the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.”
LeafSpec tech
Jin disclosed the imaging software and hardware innovations to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization, which has submitted patent applications on the intellectual property and has already been granted one issued patent. OTC licensed to LeafSpec the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell the technology.
“There have been many large-scale plant phenotyping facilities and systems developed and used by big ag companies and academic institutions within the last 15 years,” Jin said. “But we successfully miniaturized the technology at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue. With our exclusive license to the Purdue technology, LeafSpec is now delivering the most advanced phenotyping technology with an easy-to-use handheld device. It’s gratifying to have built a tool that can impact the lives of growers and scientists around the world.”
Most of LeafSpec’s current customers are plant scientists and breeders from universities and large companies.
“Our customers’ research and field scouting efforts have greatly benefited from LeafSpec’s distinctive spatial-spectral resolutions and enhanced signal clarity. This enables them to gather unprecedented quality of hyperspectral leaf images for stress analysis, leading to the discovery of novel plant stress signals and enhanced measurement accuracy,” Jin said.
“The ag engineers at Purdue have published exciting new findings on nitrogen stress signals using LeafSpec. Similarly, numerous researchers investigating different diseases, nutrient deficiencies and chemical damages can do the same.”
LeafSpec sells multiple models of its device to cover different species such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and grapes. Its license also includes AI models for plant traits such as nitrogen content and robotic technologies to operate LeafSpec in the field fully automatically. Demonstrations of these plant phenotyping robots, such as PhenoBee, can be found at Jin’s research website.
LeafSpec sold its first device in 2019. In summer 2023, the company registered sales of nearly $400,000.
“We can only fulfill a very limited portion of the incoming requests,” Jin said. “We are working to further strengthen our manufacturing capability and expand the technical support team in order to scale up the business.
“While there is a great potential to expand the business within the research community, we’re planning to introduce field scouting services to farmers. Field research over the past four years has demonstrated that LeafSpec can deliver significantly improved accuracy in measuring corn nitrogen content. This aids farmers in making informed fertilization decisions, addressing a market worth over $10 billion in the U.S. LeafSpec and Purdue are currently collaborating with major ag industry companies and fellow land-grant universities to test the technology for this market.”
Along with being named a finalist for the 2023 Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit, LeafSpec was one of three recipients of the fourth annual Davidson Prize, awarded by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The Davidson Prize was designed to celebrate breakthrough innovations in areas of agricultural, food and biological systems engineering.
IEDC to host entrepreneurs, industry leaders from around the world to experience Indiana, Hoosier innovation
The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) today announced that Indiana will host the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) for the first time in 2025, welcoming entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors and startup ecosystem builders from around the world to Indiana and its capital city. Indianapolis will be the second U.S. location to host the annual convention since its inaugural event in 2009.
“Indiana has a strong and storied history with entrepreneurship at the center, and we are thrilled to showcase our state and our innovative ecosystem during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in 2025,” said Governor Eric J. Holcomb. “With the help of Hoosier entrepreneurs, Indiana’s economy is thriving – pushing forward new innovations, attracting top talent, and creating countless opportunities for current and future residents to prosper. Hosting this global convention is a testament to our state’s commitment, past and future, to cultivating a vibrant ecosystem that supports dreamers, innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders.”
Event organizers announced Indiana’s selection today onstage at GEC 2023 in Melbourne, Australia, previewing the 2025 event that will be held June 1-5, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center and passing the torch to planners in Indianapolis representing the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), key ecosystem partners and Indiana-based entrepreneurs. This year’s event, being held Sept. 19-22, is expected to draw roughly 2,500 attendees from nearly 200 countries.
The Global Entrepreneurship Congress is hosted in a different rising entrepreneurial city each year, presenting four days of actionable intelligence, collaboration and collective action. Its goal is to bring together thousands of voices to participate in creating one inclusive global ecosystem by networking, learning and sharing. Since its inception in 2009 at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, GEC has created opportunities for founders to share new business models and connect with mentors and investors, and has hosted notable thought leaders challenging the status quo, policymakers focus on incentivizing entrepreneurs and removing barriers to growth, and academics exploring new ways of working and new sources of data.
“We are thrilled to bring the Global Entrepreneurship Congress back to the United States for the first time since it started,” said Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of GEN. “Indiana is home to thriving, resilient and collaborative communities driven by creative and innovative entrepreneurs who are transforming our world.”
GEC Indiana will serve as a unique opportunity for Hoosier founders and entrepreneurs to connect with global resources, while providing a platform to showcase Indiana innovation and the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Indiana was named the No. 1 state to start a business by Forbes and has been recognized as a top 40 global emerging destination for entrepreneurship by GEN and its partners at Startup Genome, while Indianapolis has been named the No. 3 city in the Midwest for startups for the second year in a row.In June, the IEDC launched ConnectIND, a digital portal available in 11 languages that is designed to increase support for entrepreneurs and founders, powering Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“Visit Indy is proud to partner with the state of Indiana to host the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a sought-after conference bringing in thought leaders while also showcasing our city’s thriving small business economy,” said Chris Gahl, executive vice president & chief marketing officer with Visit Indy. “Indy’s entire tourism industry stands ready to welcome GEC’s global visitors to Indy, a city built to host conventions with unmatched hospitality.”
Indianapolis is a well-known host city for major global events, with accolades including being named USA Today’s no. 1 Convention City in the U.S. and Best Airport in North America for 12 years straight. In 2022, Indianapolis hosted more than 500 conventions and major events, drawing more than 30 million visitors while generating more than $5.8 billion in economic impact to the state. Indianapolis also serves as host to the IEDC’s Indiana Global Economic Summit, first held in 2022 and slated again to occur in May 2024.
For more information about the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, please visit genglobal.org.
Companies, students, startups, academics and innovators to compete for $25,000 grand prize; Registration ends September 30
AgriNovus Indiana, a non-profit focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, launched a challenge today to inspire innovation that creates new revenue streams from current on-farm processes to increase efficiency and return on investment for producers’ operations.
In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge is a seven-week accelerator that creates an opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs, students and innovators to compete for a $25,000 grand prize by developing technology to create and access new sources of on-farm profitability rooted in existing workflows.
“Farmers are entrepreneurs by definition,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus. “The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge provides a unique opportunity for farmers and tech innovators to come together, identify a challenge and work together to create a solution that ultimately drives value on the farm.”
The 2023 Producer-Led Innovation Challenge will largely focus on digital innovation in the following areas:
Trackability and traceability for premium products
Accessing and leveraging sustainability and environmental practices
Developing supply chains for byproduct and waste products
Operational enhancement and risk mitigation
“The most successful innovations start with the problem you’re aiming to solve,” said Courtney Kingery, CEO of Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance. “New technologies that allow farmers to tap into additional revenue streams by monetizing their current practices is key for family-owned farms’ success allowing them to feed and fuel a growing world.”
The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge has enabled entrepreneurial companies to thrive. Most recently, the 2022 winner was acquired by Indiana-based agtech company Intelinair. In the announcement of the acquisition, Intelinair cited Aker Technologies’ victory in the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge. Since its launch, every company that has won the Challenge has either received follow-on funding or been acquired.
In addition to the $25,000 grand prize, a $4,000 from DIAL Ventures is available to the top participating student team from Purdue University. Companies, individuals and entrepreneurs who want to participate in the Challenge can access technical information, Challenge objectives, rules and register to participate here. The deadline to register is September 30 at 11:59 p.m.
From her days as a dance major at Indiana University to the possibility of opening up her own aerial yoga studio, creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit runs through Rachel Klein’s veins. This week, the co-founder and CEO of Revival Food Company, joins us to walk through her journey as a food entrepreneur, how the company has grown and scaled to date and what it’s like to be an Indiana startup.
Rachel also talks about her gut check moment of choosing to grow Revival Food Company instead of staying small, the challenges of being a female founder and connecting with Walmart to get her products into 1,000 stores in 2020. Revival is focused on bringing new energy to the market, so what’s next? Rachel talks about the future of her company and what consumers can expect as she continues to grow (hint: it’s well beyond nut butters).
Revival Food Company was a finalist for the Rally Innovation Conference In-Prize Pitch Competition. To learn more, click here.
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Survey participation could help major sectors maintain nationally prominent positions
The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) today launched a survey across key industry sectors of Indiana’s economy seeking to capture insights about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital tools. Information gleaned from the survey will be used to inform, educate and help Hoosier businesses to thrive in the digital economy.
“For Indiana to continue to lead in its most important economic sectors, we must work collaboratively to determine at what rate and how our employers are using AI. In addition, we are assessing what kinds of support they need to understand and productively use technology to push their operations forward,” said CICP CEO Melina Kennedy.
CICP’s branded initiatives Ascend Indiana, AgriNovus Indiana, BioCrossroads, Conexus Indiana and TechPoint will work directly with leaders in agbioscience, life sciences and healthcare, advanced manufacturing and logistics, and technology sectors to encourage robust participation. All data will be anonymized and aggregated prior to being made publicly available. Companies that fall outside of the initiatives’ focus areas are welcome to take the survey as well, Kennedy said.
Information from the survey will establish benchmarks and help CICP and its branded initiatives determine the next steps in helping companies and workers better understand how adoption of advanced technologies drive growth of Indiana’s economy. While many Hoosier companies have acknowledged that they are adopting advanced technology, including the use of AI, a comprehensive collection of data across Indiana’s advanced industry sectors does not yet exist.
“We’re excited to build on the work we have been doing for the past few years to measure advanced manufacturing and logistics (AML) companies’ adoption of digital technologies, including AI, and to better understand how all key industries are using this emerging technology,” said Conexus President and CEO Fred Cartwright. “Data from our 2022 technology adoption study showed that 26 percent of AML companies expect to implement AI in the next five years and 37 percent expect to implement machine learning – up from 18 percent and 22 percent in 2020, respectively.”
CICP initiatives Conexus and TechPoint have been raising awareness about the need for Hoosier companies to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies for several years and will lead the data-gathering and analysis effort. Conexus encourages digital transformation in the state’s advanced manufacturing and logistics sectors. This work includes support to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s Manufacturing Readiness Grants Program, which assists companies with technology investments. TechPoint is also driving specific economic growth opportunities for Indiana through putting technology to work under a Digital 4.0 framework.
“Technology adoption is the biggest productivity increase and economic growth lever for Indiana, particularly for the advanced sectors,” TechPoint President and CEO Ting Gootee said. “This survey is timely, as AI application and impact on the workforce are gaining market momentum.”
CICP and its branded initiatives have long pursued economic growth in Indiana’s advanced and other key industries, most recently, that work has focused on driving adoption of digital technologies to enhance competitiveness in a fast-moving economy.
Ascend’s work connecting Hoosiers to careers is informed by the impacts of technological development on the labor market. AgriNovus, BioCrossroads, Conexus and TechPoint have recently published separate reports on this topic. A recent Brookings Institution study spotlighted AnalytiXIN, an initiative incubated by BioCrossroads.
Survey questions are inspired by McKinsey & Company’s Global Survey on AI which has been used by economists and community leaders across the world to track progress of tech adoption and use that information to establish supportive policy.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, edge computing … all new disciplines of science that are transforming the future. And, they are as close as the nearest farm field thanks to today’s guest and his team of engineers and technologists. Aaron Wetzel, John Deere’s Vice President, Production and Precision Ag Production Systems, joins us to talk about his journey through the agbiosciences, tech transforming the industry and the company’s recent acquisition in Indiana.
How does John Deere balance the creation of their own tech versus acquisition? Aaron gets into how they walk that line, marrying strengths and how Smart Apply came to be a part of their portfolio. How will this next chapter of innovation unfold? Aaron leans into the discussion of a growing population and less land creating challenges for the farmer – and John Deere’s readiness to answer that call across the globe to enable farmers to be more efficient to grow more food with less resources than ever before.
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CoLab Tech is a start-up engagement program focused on accelerating companies that address key R&D topics and priority areas for Mondelēz International
Applications were open to early-stage businesses in North America and Europe
The 9 participants selected represent alternative ingredient, food safety, improved manufacturing and regenerative agriculture technologies
Mondelēz International, Inc. recently announced the 9 companies chosen to participate in CoLab Tech, an accelerator program led by the company’s research and development team to collaborate with start-ups in addressing technology-driven food production and sustainability challenges.
CoLab Tech sought early-stage businesses with disruptive solutions that can help accelerate growth and innovation in chocolate, biscuit and baked snacks, while enhancing the global snacking leader’s technological priorities, including reducing carbon footprints, enhancing sensory experiences, improving nutrition profiles and modernizing production processes.
The program, selected entrepreneurs in North America and Europe, received applications from all over the world.
“One of the most exciting parts of this process was learning about the creative and clever solutions being developed across the globe to solve the food industry’s most pressing ingredient, process and sustainability challenges,” said Ian Noble, Vice President for Global Ingredient Research & Development at Mondelēz International. “We are eager to start learning from and collaborating with these cutting-edge entrepreneurs who will introduce us to new capabilities and also learn from our expertise.”
The nine companies are:
Captic: The Belgium-based start-up delivers secure and reliable AI-vision solutions that can integrate into a company’s current production processes to provide actionable insights to optimize production efficiency.
Computomics: The Germany-based company’s platform uses machine learning and metagenomics analysis to monitor different types of pathogens in real time, from the early soil stages to manufacturing facilities.
Cultivated Biosciences: The Switzerland-based start-up uses fermentation technology to create a sustainable dairy-free, creamy fat ingredient that can substitute for animal-based ingredients in multiple functions and formulas.
Eggmented Reality: The Israel-based company uses material sciences and precision fermentation to develop customized ingredient functionality solutions.
Epogee: The U.S.-based ingredient business produces a modified plant-based oil that cuts up to 92 percent of calories, total fat and saturated fat compared to traditional fats and oils, while maintaining mouthfeel, satiety and texture.
Prote-in: The Italy-based company produces carbon negative, farm-free proteins using a proprietary continuous CO2 fermentation technology that offsets 1.8kg of captured CO2 for every 1kg of single cell protein.
SoilTech Wireless: The U.S.-based company develops wireless sensing technology and data analytics platforms to help drive optimization, sustainability and traceability throughout the global agriculture supply chain.
Stephane Thermal Runs: The French-based start-up created unique sensors and software to optimize thermal profiling in baked snacks.
WNWN Food Labs: The UK-based company uses fermentation to create alternative cocoa ingredients.
The cohort will participate in a 12-week curriculum that includes hands-on experiences, virtual sessions, 1:1 mentorship and access to Mondelēz International’s global network of partners and experts.
