TechAccel Honored with National Award for Most Promising Technology Based Economic Development Initiative

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology Acceleration Partners (TechAccel, LLC), a private capital development company that invests in, acquires and accelerates early-stage discoveries and technologies in agriculture, animal health and food ingredient sectors, has been recognized as one of the most promising in the nation. TechAccel was founded in 2014 by Michael Helmstetter, Ph.D., Kansas State University and Bicknell Family Holding Company.

TechAccel won the 2015 Excellence in TBED (technology-based economic development) Award as America's Most Promising Technology Based Economic Development Initiative from the State Science and Technology Institute, or SSTI, a national organization focused on enhancing state-level technology based economic development for the national good.

TechAccel partners with global companies, venture capital firms and emerging start-ups to identify market needs and provide the research and development to address those needs. TechAccel co-funds the R&D costs and sources/manages the advancement of each technology, which in turn, helps companies accelerate bringing potentially transformative technologies to the global market.

"TechAccel provides a highly promising, innovative model that helps identify global market needs and transfer transformative yet high-risk technologies that address those needs into the marketplace by partnering with global companies," said Dan Berglund, SSTI president and CEO. "TechAccel's unique combination of private management and co-investment provides a potential archetype for reducing the risk of university-developed technologies to the point that industry partners are interested in moving them from technical feasibility to commercial viability."

"We are humbled to have received this national recognition just one year after our company's inception," said Helmstetter. "As a first-of-its-kind company, it took some time for our partners to get their heads wrapped around what it is that we do – our value proposition. In a short amount of time, we've rapidly become known as a valuable collaborator in the agtech and animal health sectors and have developed strategies designed to make a broad impact on the global food challenge."

Judges scored awards on innovative thinking and a well-defined action plan. The scoring was heavily weighted on inventiveness and transferability of the ideas and products.

TechAccel was noted for developing a model that more easily overcomes the "technology advancement gap that has long plagued university-developed technologies."

TechAccel just completed its second round of funding since its inception a year ago. The company evaluates technologies primarily in five research pillars: RNAi applications, animal feed and nutrition, crop production and enhancement, soil and water and animal vaccines and therapeutics.

The State Science and Technology Institute is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving initiatives that support prosperity through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. The institute began in 1996 as a service to help build technology-based economies. The board of directors is chaired by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who was the inaugural secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

About Technology Acceleration Partners: Founded in 2014 by Michael Helmstetter, Ph.D., Kansas State University, and Bicknell Family Holding Company, TechAccel is a first-of-its-kind private capital development company that invests in, acquires and accelerates early-stage discoveries and technologies in agriculture, animal health and food ingredient sectors. Through collaborations with universities and research organizations, TechAccel conducts innovative research and development to ready technologies for commercialization by TechAccel's global industry partners. For more information, visit www.techaccel.net.

Contact: Cadie Connors, Parris Communications 
816-352-8504 
[email protected]

SOURCE TechAccel

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http://www.techaccel.net