Leaders from four cities across the U.S. (Cleveland, Detroit, Durham and New Orleans) met at the Center in December to launch the Forward Cities initiative. This program will focus on inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship in underdeveloped corridors over the next several years. Forward Cities is supported by local and national partners including the Aspen Institute, Urban Institute, Friends of New Orleans, and more. James Carville offered the closing keynote, in addition to numerous other distinguished speakers in attendance.

December 17, 2014 – Read more at WWNO

Ten New Orleans startups presented their future plans at Demo Day, including nutritional supplement personalization startup myMix Nutrition. The event is the culmination of Idea Village’s 12-week IdeaX accelerator program, in which participants worked with mentors and experts to refine their business strategies.

December 8, 2014 — Read more at New Orleans CityBusiness

Nerve-on-a-chip startup AxoSim Technologies has won $25,000 in the 3rd annual BioChallenge pitch competition for Louisiana life sciences companies. The novel technology reduces the costs and length of preclinical drug development. The other three finalists were Crescentium, a critical care medical device firm, coastal resiliency and living shoreline company ORA Estuaries, and Taxor Diagnostics, the developers of a diagnostic test that predicts whether taxane chemotherapies will be effective for breast cancer patients.

November 18, 2014 — Read more at The Times-Picayune/Nola.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced four local grants totaling $500,000 to fund the growth of the health sciences and biomedical industries that are vital to New Orleans’ economic future. TheBioInnovation Center receives the largest grant of $200,000. New Orleans Business Alliance, the city’s economic development public-private partnership, receives $150,000. Remaining funds go to Good Work Network and Idea Village. The half-million-dollar commitment is part of Chase’s nationwide Small Business Forward initiative, a five-year, $30 million program to boost support networks that help growing small businesses in specific industry concentrations known as “clusters.” They also align with the priorities in ProsperityNOLA, the city’s five-year plan for economic growth.

November 6, 2014 — Find out more and see video coverage of the event at WDSU News

The 3rd annual BioChallenge competition on November 18 will feature ‘nerve-on-a-chip’ developer AxoSim Technologies, critical care device startup Crescentium, coastal restoration company ORA Estuaries, and breast cancer treatment personalization firm Taxor Diagnostics. These four local startups will compete in front of a judging panel of regional and national investors for a $25,000 cash prize.

October 31, 2014 — Read more at the Times-Picayune/Nola.com

Applications for the 2014 BioChallenge pitch competition will be accepted until September 30. Company executive summaries are scored by independent entrepreneurship experts to select the top finalists, who go on to pitch in front of a panel of judges for cash and services prizes during the Innovation Louisiana life science entrepreneurship conference. The top winner at the pitch event on November 18 will win at least $25,000 cash.

Click here to see the BioChallenge eligibility rules and instructions.

 

September 3, 2014 – Read more in New Orleans CityBusiness