AgriNovus Indiana to award $75,000 to entrepreneurs at Velocity Demo Day June 18 in Indianapolis

2025-05-21T10:33:58-04:00May 21, 2025|

Three winners to receive $25,000 each for solutions to challenges in bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, will host its first Velocity Demo Day from 3 to 6 p.m. on June 18 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, awarding three winning teams $25,000 each. In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Indiana Soybean Alliance, Elevance Health, Beck’s Hybrids, Ag Alumni Seed and Gutwein Law, the event culminates a six-month startup accelerator designed to inspire creation of tech-enabled businesses that address research-defined challenges in bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health. “Velocity is designed to accelerate development of solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing the food and agricultural economy in Indiana and around the globe,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus. “Demo Day will spotlight entrepreneurs [...]

Mitch Frazier, AgriNovus President and CEO to Step Down

2025-05-20T10:20:37-04:00May 16, 2025|

Organization Launches National Search for New President and CEO AgriNovus Indiana announced today it is launching a search for a new chief executive officer following the resignation of its current CEO Mitch Frazier who will depart from the organization June 6. Frazier, who has served as president and CEO of AgriNovus since June 2020, will become President of IBJ Media Corporation June 16. “It has been an honor to serve alongside the team at AgriNovus and work with partners across the state and around the world to build the next chapter of the agbioscience economy in Indiana,” said Frazier. “Together we have built a powerful engine to accelerate growth in this economy, and I know the passion that fuels this team will continue to deliver results well into the future.” During Frazier’s tenure at AgriNovus, the organization refined its [...]

Corteva Veteran Joins AgriNovus to Lead Growth Efforts Across Indiana’s Agbioscience Economy

2025-04-16T14:30:53-04:00April 8, 2025|

Former Dow AgroSciences and Corteva Leader Megan DeVelvis to Focus on Economic Growth, Joins Expanded AgriNovus Leadership Team AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition to grow Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today Megan DeVelvis as its new senior director of growth – a role charged with enabling and accelerating growth of agbioscience companies in the state. DeVelvis, who joins AgriNovus after more than 20 years in agriculture, will lead AgriNovus’ economic development efforts, connecting industry, academia, capital providers, governments and non-profits to opportunities to fuel growth across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and agriculture. “Agbioscience is the only economy in the world that touches every person on the planet, and Indiana has emerged as the destination of choice for innovators and companies seeking to build the next chapter of food and agriculture even stronger,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO [...]

AgriNovus Indiana names new executive members, welcomes new directors

2025-03-11T14:29:42-04:00March 11, 2025|

AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today changes to its executive committee and its board of directors. The board unanimously approved the addition of Robert King, executive vice president, Crop Protection Business Unit at Corteva Agriscience, and David Pugh, chief financial officer of AgReliant Genetics, to the executive committee. The board also approved the addition of Dr. Brian Lutz, vice president of Agricultural Solutions at Corteva Agriscience, and Micah Beckwith, Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, as successions to replace outgoing directors. “Indiana’s agbioscience economy continues to grow thanks to the direction and support of the AgriNovus board of directors,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The addition of these experts to our Board brings even more breadth of expertise to our team as we work to build the agbioscience economy of [...]

AgriNovus Indiana launches $75,000 startup accelerator, Velocity, to address areas ripe for agbioscience innovation

2025-02-10T19:37:58-05:00December 18, 2024|

Velocity empowers innovators to develop solutions in bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health; Registration deadline is January 24 AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, announced today the launch of Velocity, a six-month agbioscience accelerator to inspire the creation of tech-enabled businesses to address many of the toughest challenges facing the food and agbioscience economy. In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Indiana Soybean Alliance, Elevance Health, Beck’s Hybrids and Ag Alumni Seed, Velocity challenges students, startups and existing companies to create solutions to fill research-defined gaps in three critical areas: bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health. The entrepreneur who presents the top solution in each of these three gaps will receive $25,000. “Bioinnovation, farmer-focused innovation and food is health are the top three forces of change that will shape the next chapter of [...]

New EntreWorks report outlines opportunities to boost  innovation and entrepreneurship in Indiana

2025-02-10T19:38:08-05:00December 17, 2024|

Indianapolis, IN – With a focus on expanding Indiana’s entrepreneurial environment, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and AgriNovus Indiana today unveiled their new report, Unlocking IP: Leveraging Indiana’s R&D Assets to Boost Entrepreneurship. In partnership with EntreWorks Consulting, the report outlines opportunities to increase support for startups, identify emerging programs and priorities, and create a base of home-grown tech talent and an expanded innovation network across the state. “Indiana is often cited as one of the best places to start a business, which is a great starting point,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. “The data released in this report confirms that while we have some great strengths to build up, we have more work to do to as we still lag behind our peers in number of actual new business start-ups per year.  The [...]

AgriNovus Indiana announces Producer-Led Innovation Challenge to improve on-farm operations

2024-08-21T13:45:28-04:00August 21, 2024|

Companies, students, startups, academics and innovators to compete for $25,000 grand prize; Registration ends September 7 INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, launched the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge today – a nine-week accelerator to create tech-enabled businesses that manage on-farm labor shortages while also saving farmers time and money. In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs, students and innovators to compete for a $25,000 grand prize by developing technology that reduces labor needs without facing the strategic decision between investment risk and labor uncertainty. “Farmers continue to face critical headwinds when it comes to securing adequate on-farm labor,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for tech innovators to develop solutions [...]

AgriNovus Indiana announces addition, change to its board of directors

2024-07-25T02:35:00-04:00July 25, 2024|

INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, a nonprofit coalition focused on growing Indiana’s agbioscience economy, announced today an addition and change to its board of directors. The board unanimously approved the addition of Gil Farley, president and owner of Biodyne USA and BW Fusion, to the board and approved David Pugh, chief financial officer of AgReliant Genetics to replace an outgoing director. “Indiana’s agbioscience economy continues to experience growth and strength thanks to the direction and support of the AgriNovus board of directors,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “The addition of Gil and Dave to our Board brings even more leadership and context to our team as we work to build the agbioscience economy of the future.” Farley launched Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Biodyne USA in 2012 and BW Fusion in 2019 with a focus on using the [...]

New study shows Indiana’s agbioscience sector contributes nearly $70B to state’s economy

2024-12-20T21:54:19-05:00July 16, 2024|

AgriNovus Indiana-commissioned study benchmarks state’s global competitiveness, defines three priority opportunities for the future INDIANAPOLIS — AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, released new research today that found Indiana’s agbioscience sector contributes $69.6 billion to the state’s economy and identified forces expected to shape its global competitiveness. Conducted by RTI International, the study entitled Accelerate 2050: A Vision for Indiana Agbioscience, identified the state’s relative economic performance across food, animal health, plant science, agtech and production agriculture and defined priority opportunities to position Indiana’s agbioscience economy for differentiated growth amid future uncertainty. “Agbioscience is a critical contributor to economic growth and is connected to every person on the planet given it centers on food,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. “This new research not only defines the [...]

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