Press Release:
Pensacola Chamber Calls on Angels to Focus on Capital for
Technology Based Economic Development at the iTen Wired Summit
PENSACOLA, Fla.- The Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce together with the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance and Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce will host the region’s fourth iTen Wired Technology Summit on April 2, 2009. The summit’s focus is to foster economic growth through innovation by positioning universities as drivers to foster entrepreneurship. This demands an increase in access to capital through a network of angel investors.
Angel investors are local benefactors desiring to support early stage business ventures. Angels are typically interested in giving back to their community and staying close to their investments.
“While we have capable entrepreneurs and talent in this region to tap these ideas and research, the need for capital, or angel investors, is great. The key component to these innovative ventures is funding,†said Charles Wood, Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.
This summit will have an afternoon session designed to provide current and interested investors an opportunity to dialogue about the need and collaborative efforts for developing a strong presence of capital and identification of angel investors in this region. Visionary entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to connect with regional resources and tools presented to discover innovations ready for the market place and how to tap this process to grow their business. Existing entrepreneurs should attend to develop relationships with others who know how to tap the money.
The summit will discuss actual case studies of successful entrepreneurs who have developed new technologies from research efforts at universities and how they were funded. Dr. Russ Lea, Vice President for Research at the University of South Alabama states, “The combination of ideas, talent and capital for Technology Based Economic Development (TBED) is one of the clear metrics of a region’s potential to produce useful innovations. One of the key locations where unfettered innovation occurs within regions wanting to grow technology or innovative based entrepreneurs is its universities.â€
iTen Wired is a joint initiative spearheaded by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce in concert with its regional economic development partners in Mobile, Baldwin, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. The regional leaders and tech-based entrepreneurs meet periodically at these summits to dialogue and engage with others to shape and advance potential partnerships for innovative solutions and to grow our five-county region. Capital is a key element discussed at each summit.
Attendees will have an opportunity to connect with fellow industry leaders, including the region’s leading investors, corporate partners and technology-based entrepreneurs. The summit is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Homewood Suites by Hilton in Daphne, Alabama. Registration is $40.00 and includes lunch. Visit iTenWired.com or itenwired.com/summit/ to register.