Page 36 - Innovation Delaware 2021

WHY DELAWARE?
ARIEL GRUSWITZ
pharmaceuticals company subsequently expanded its headquarters in Wilmington and has about 1,500 employees.
Those examples illustrate that whether a company is a thriving business looking to relocate, or an innovative idea that is still a gleam in an entrepreneur’s eye, Delaware has much to offer. The First State is home to a tightly knit network of public and private organizations whose sole purpose is to make the state’s businesses grow and thrive.
An Ecosystem of Support
For a better idea of how all of Delaware’s resources and initiatives fit together, ARIEL GRUSWITZ, director of innovation at the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP), the state’s economic development agency, suggests first looking at her “ecosystem map,” which can be found at www.choosedelaware.com/startup- resources-map. Entrepreneurs can choose any location in the state and search any nearby resources they may need, including space, industry groups, events, investors, and many more. Companies can also sort the resources by their own stage of development, whether it’s “idea,” “launch” or “growth” mode.
“Every month, we pull these various groups together to look at events and happenings and to determine what we can support,” Gruswitz says. Gruswitz is also in charge of another important piece of the innovation puzzle: DPP’s Science & Tech Advisors, a group founded last year
34 DelawareBusinessTimes.com
DAMIAN DESTEFANO
BILL PROVINE
to gather the sentiment of science and technology leaders in Delaware and allow them to speak with one voice as they advocate for federal funding that could come back to Delaware. (For more on the Science & Tech Advisors, see page 25.)
In 2020, both existing and newly launched small businesses benefited from the state government’s focus on business development. “During the COVID crisis, we changed what we did, but the mission was the same,” says DAMIAN DESTEFANO, former director of the Delaware Division
of Small Business (DSB), which is charged with helping the hardest-hit sector of the economy. “It was a challenge these business had never faced before.”
Starting with the hospitality industry in March and moving to personal care businesses such as barbershops and hair salons in April, the DSB granted $10 million in loans to 300 hard-hit businesses. The loans were zero-interest, with payback starting in nine months, a grace period that has since been extended. Additionally, the department
L TO R: CHARLIE RIORDAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP AND INNOVATION, AND PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY, WITH DENNIS ASSANIS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE FOR THE STAR CAMPUS FINTECH BUILDING.