UNH, state partner for Green Launching Pad; Aim to reduce emissions, create jobs in state

      The University of New Hampshire has long conducted engineering, energy, environmental, and business research and has been committed to sustainability for many years. Now, it has partnered with the state to create the Green Launching Pad, a program designed to take advantage of these strengths and further green entrepreneurship in New Hampshire.
      Both established and start-up companies will receive extensive financial, operational, technical, and managerial support through the Green Launching Pad to launch or expand and commercialize green energy products and services. It will connect entrepreneurs with investors and business mentors. By accelerating these products and services to market, the program will help reduce energy use and carbon emissions while creating new jobs and economic opportunities in the state.
      The Green Launching Pad was born of a panel discussion at UNH. Entrepreneurial students co-taught by Ross Gittell, James R. Carter Professor and professor of management, and Jesse Devitte, founder and CEO of Borealis Ventures, were brought together with sustainability students of George Hurtt, associate professor of natural resources and the environment and director of the UNH Complex Systems Research Center, to talk about green venture capitalism.
      "Everybody was so fired up," said Devitte. "We decided we had to capture that energy and, be more creative at targeting the new green economy." According to Devitte, UNH hasn't been organizing itself around commercial innovation recently, though it benefits both business students and those with a new technological innovation.
      The plan is that every year, the Green Launching Pad will accept submissions from entrepreneurs, businesses, students, and researchers from across New Hampshire who have an idea or a product and need support to take it to market. An advisory board will select at least three business teams that will be supported during an intensive summer business accelerator program based in the Seacoast and aligned with UNH. Applicants will be judged based on how viable their product is – such as how clean the technology is - commercial market potential, and experience of the team.
      Winning projects will receive up to $90,000 each in funding and accelerated business development support, including mentorship and coaching from technology, engineering and services industry professionals and seasoned entrepreneurs as well as professional, legal and management advice, networking with funders and supporting businesses, access to office and meeting spaces, and critical operating support from the university.
However, Devitte said the program's success will not be judged by the teams it launches. It will be judged by the broader impact it has to create more teams and ventures, for this is how it will truly make a difference. Devitte said they are trying to figure out how to help those not selected get benefits too.
      The $750,000 program is funded through the NH State Office of Energy with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for two years. After two years, the program is intended to become self-sustaining through industry, private foundations, and funds that revolve back into the program from successful ventures.
      The Green Launching Pad was developed with help from Richard Ober, vice president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation; A.R. (Venky) Venkatachalam, chair of the Department of Decision Sciences and professor of information systems; Kevin Gardner, associate professor of environmental engineering and director of the UNH Environmental Research Group; and John Orcutt, professor of law and associate dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center. Applications are due March 1. For more information, please visit http://www.greenlaunchingpad.org/.