2681 CORE is where entrepreneurship and innovation intersect in Northeast TN
2681 CORE will focus on three key areas: Beta-Tech Accelerator, tech-transfer from ETSU, and creating an angel venture fund.
It’s been about six months since we sat down with Heath Guinn, the Founder and President of the Sync Space Entrepreneur Center in Kingsport, and one thing is obvious: the Center is fueling a lot of economic development.
Most recently, this is reflected in the formation of a new entity called 2681 – Catalyst of Rural Entrepreneurship (2681 CORE). It will serve as the coordinating entity for most of the entrepreneurial support activities in the area.
The entity is named after the intersection of Interstate 26 (I-26) and Interstate 81 (I-81), which is located in Sullivan County, near Kingsport and Johnson City.
“We want people to know where we are geographically, and 2681 accomplishes that mission,” Guinn said.
It is a collaborative effort from East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Research Corporation’s Center for Innovation and Sync Space Entrepreneur Center.
2681 CORE has already raised support to the tune of $1 million.
Guinn, Liz Bennett, the newly named Sync Space Executive Director, and Ryan Shipley, the Center’s Vice President of Strategy and Capital, spent a full day with the Teknovation team to share about all the regional progress and initiatives of 2681 CORE.
Focus Area #1 – ß-Tech Accelerator
In February, Guinn said the focus of the last two years has been on “developing the ecosystem,” and by the looks of it, that initiative has been working, in many respects.
One of the key ways Sync Space has done this is through the Accelerate Appalachia ß-Tech Accelerator, which has already run through two cohorts of founders in Northeast Tennessee.
The first cohort had some limited success, and the second cohort had some promising participants in the rural health sector, including:
- Red & Red Therapeutics
- Auros Pharma
- Phiniti AI (Teknovation article to come)
- MAIA (Teknovation article to come)
- Spartan Health Science (see Teknovation article)
According to the Sync Space team, the purpose of the ß-Tech Accelerator is to create a robust startup accelerator in the Appalachian Highlands that can grow and attract early-stage, small, and scalable companies.
Focus Area #2 – ETSU IP Commercialization
Once again, collaboration is the catalyst for changes coming to ETSU’s Research Corporation.
2681 CORE is pushing for research to extend beyond the walls of ETSU laboratories and into the hands of businesses that can put them to use. To assist with the transition, ETSU’s Innovation Center and Sync Space worked together to get funding from Launch Tennessee’s Technology Advancement Consortium (TTAC) to bring an intellectual property (IP) attorney to the program.
Once the IP is secured from the university’s side, the Sync Space team will assist with the commercial application, customer discovery, and business formation side.
Focus Area #3 – Bring funds into the region
The biggest hurdle with any regional economic development initiative surrounding entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology is: Where is the money going to come from?
Some founders in the Tri-Cities area have been successful in securing capital from the state’s InvestTN Fund, shoutout to Lauren Glass Mullins with Personality Pool. But, for founders who are still early-stage, rural, and have limited resources to bootstrap, they may be praying for an angel investor to swoop in.
2681 is working on the development of a private micro-venture angel fund called “Catalyst Capital Angel Fund.”
Documentation for the fund has been approved, and they are now at the stage of recruiting and onboarding investors. Guinn said the goal is to get the fund to $1 million and break escrow at $500,000.
“We are working closely with Launch Tennessee’s Invest TN fund to receive some matching dollars,” Guinn said. “The fund is private and legally separate, but we are playing an active role in helping ramp up operations.”
Learn more about East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Research Corporation.
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