Page 21 - Delaware Lawyer - Spring 2019

Figure 3. An aerial view of STAR Campus in January 2019, with over $500 million of investment and nearly 1 million sq. ft. of contemporary buildings.
portant role in the change. One outcome of FSI was the beginning of startup pitch events and the formation of the venture capital firm Leading Edge Ventures.
UD’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships was created in 2008 as an integrated unit to manage UD’s intel- lectual property, host the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) and develop sustaining R&D pri- vate sector partnerships. The SBDC helps start, grow and sustain small business at no fee across the state and in all mar- ket sectors. Professional advisors operate from offices in Newark and Georgetown. The SBDC offers numerous live and on- line educational and training events on many general and specialty business sub- jects. The SBDC is a resource partner of the Small Business Administration, along with SCORE and the Women’s Business Center. The state’s Division of Small Busi- ness and the SBDC work closely together to provide needed services to small busi- nesses. PTAC helps companies who want to do business with the government and win contracts. The Delaware Manufac- turing Extension Partnership (DEMEP) is hosted at Delaware Technical Commu- nity College (DTCC) to help manufactur- ing companies in best practices, efficiency and productivity.
In undergraduate education, UD launched the highly regarded Horn En- trepreneurship Program, offering any interested student both curricular and
Delaware has to market itself better to attract entrepreneurial leaders to scale early-stage companies.
experiential learning opportunities. The Horn Program also encourages faculty and student startups through mentoring, networking events and pitch competitions with funding awards. SBDC advisors are UD adjunct faculty, teaching entrepre- neurship to student teams working on a small company’s project. DTCC has a myriad of workforce-development certifi- cation programs for needed industry and healthcare positions.
The Delaware BioScience Association has excelled in bringing life science com- panies, academia and suppliers together through membership services, events and career fairs. Similarly, technology compa- nies network at Tech Forum of Delaware events. There are numerous mentored, shared working spaces such as The Mill, 1313 Innovation, Emerging Technology Center, DTP@STAR, Delaware Innova- tion Space and more to evolve a network-
ing culture. Some focused events for the traditionally underserved in the innova- tion landscape have been quite success- ful, such as Great Dames and Inspiring Women in STEM.
The K-12 education pipeline has be- come a great focus of businesses to as- sure a future workforce of needed talent. As part of this effort, Delaware Pathways has engaged schools, employers, parents and students to try out a large selection of careers. Zip Code Wilmington also was created to educate those who want careers in digital coding, with a particular fo- cus on those from minority areas. Junior Achievement of Delaware is another high- ly-rated program with corporate support. Summary and Challenges
Delaware has the ingredients for eco- nomic development success if it strives to connect them for leverage to produce greater outcomes. Success will come slow- ly. It is the long game, because of the shift in education and skills needed. Retention of our graduates in the state has to im- prove. Delaware has to market itself better to attract entrepreneurial leaders to scale early-stage companies. Good leaders with a solid strategy and execution experience in pro-business Delaware can raise the necessary growth capital.
“Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality,” said medical researcher and virologist Jonas Salk. Dela- ware’s numerous projects are building dreams into reality, one step at a time.
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