Facilitating the Growth of WV’s Innovation Economy

December 18, 2020 3:46 pm

“Innovation, ideas, and talent are equally distributed, but opportunity is not.”  That maxim underlies the rationale for the formation of 3 Steps to StartUp – West Virginia’s first truly integrated, collaborative, and holistic initiative to assist technology- and research-focused entrepreneurs in taking their business concept from notepad to marketplace. We have all heard the statistics. West Virginia entrepreneurs and innovators face significant hurdles to business creation. We struggle relative to neighboring states to attract investment for startups; rank 49 out of 50 among states in adults becoming entrepreneurs; place 45th in terms of business births and patents per capita; and,[...]

3 Steps To Start-Up… What Is It?

October 30, 2019 5:55 pm

Spurring entrepreneurialism and innovation is critical to driving the economic diversification necessary to overcome the impacts of the decline in coal across the State of West Virginia. However, early-stage entrepreneurs in West Virginia currently lack a clear pathway and support system to help guide them from conceptualization to market entry. West Virginia’s three leading entrepreneurship support organizations – TechConnectWV, the INNOVA Commercialization group, and the WV Jobs Investment Trust – are launching the“3 Steps to Start-up” program, which will provide early-stage entrepreneurs with critical assistance and a structured, modular map for moving forward from conceptualization through market entry. The goal[...]