Biomedical Devices of Kansas (BMDK) is a business accelerator for the emerging, human, or animal health medical device company. BMDK provides complete design services, proof of concept, prototypes, and production for medical device companies, from concept to commercialization. BMDK offers a robust and proven, title 21, CFR 820 FDA Quality System that is regulatory compliant and ISO 13485:2016 certified to guide product development and regulatory approval, with over 100 successful FDA 510k submittals.
The BTBC Main Facility, which opened in 2010, is a 51,400 square foot facility located on the University of Kansas (KU) West Campus in Lawrence, KS. The BTBC provides wet lab and office space, and professional business services to emerging bioscience and technology companies, spinouts from KU, KU research collaborations, and established companies benefiting from close proximity to university assets. The BTBC is a unique partnership between the City of Lawrence and Douglas County, KS, KU, and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
The BTBC-KUMC Facility is located at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. The building is comprised of 20,000 square feet of office and wet lab space adjacent to KU Medical Center. It houses emerging bioscience and technology startups, university startups and collaborations, and companies seeking to locate close to resources at the KU Medical Center.
The 25,000 square foot wet laboratory incubator is located at Missouri Western State University (MWSU) and operated by the Institute for Industrial and Applied Life Sciences, DBA Innovation Stockyard, an independent 501(c)(3) organization, under a long-term management agreement as a state-affiliated Innovation Center. The incubator has a primary focus on animal health and nutrition start-up companies, seeking to leverage St. Joseph’s long history in this sector and the facility’s central location within the Animal Health Corridor.
DFA’s CoLAB Accelerator is a 90-day, immersive program that accelerates and grows ag-tech and dairy foods startup businesses through mentoring and educational programming. DFA has partnered with various startups across the dairy value chain that provide valuable services to family farm-owners, nutritious dairy-based products to consumers or helpful insights to businesses.
The Edge Collaboration District is designed to inspire industry collaboration on campus. It’s where industry, research and talent come together to produce meaningful innovations and real outcomes. At the heart of the Edge Collaboration District are the Kansas State University Office and Research Parks. Multi-tenant and dedicated office and lab buildings have been developed adjacent to the Kansas State University campus and the National Bio & Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) with several shovel-ready sites available. By co-locating at Kansas State University, corporate partners will have the chance to build professional relationships as well as leverage the university’s strengths and access talent.
The Enterprise Center in Johnson County is a non-profit organization that connects entrepreneurs with the resources they need to grow and scale by providing education, mentoring, coworking space and connections to capital through the Mid-America Angels investment network and the Fountain Innovation Fund. Since it was founded in 1994, ECJC-assisted companies have had a 3.2 billion impact on the regional economy.
The Independence Regional Ennovation Center is a mixed-use business incubator which focuses on three core areas for the development of new businesses in the biotechnology, kitchen/culinary, and business technology sectors. The 28,000 square foot facility opened in late 2010 as part of the renovation of the former Independence Regional Health Center (IHRC). The center includes office space, collaborative office suites, workstations, common areas, and four laboratories of varying sizes (600 to 1200 square feet). In addition to the business technologies and life sciences-focused wet laboratory incubator, the Ennovation Center also houses a culinary business incubator equipped with five commercial kitchens. Upon date of publication the Ennovation Center is home to over 55 developing and operating companies.
The Kansas Bioscience Park Venture Accelerator, near College Boulevard and Valley Road in Olathe, KS, was custom-built to serve emerging bioscience companies focused on successfully commercializing their discoveries. The 39,000-square-foot building, which is adjacent to Kansas State University-Olathe, is available for bioscience companies and offers flexible wet lab and office space, shared equipment and fully equipped conference rooms.
The City of Manhattan owns the Kansas Entrepreneurial Center, a 6,000 square foot wet lab incubator facility for emerging bioscience and manufacturing companies, as well as those using university and research technologies in collaboration with Kansas State University. This facility was renovated by the KEC partnership which consists of the City of Manhattan, KS,, the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, the Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation, Kansas State University Innovation Partners and the North Central Kansas Regional Planning Commission in Beloit, KS. The facility is managed by the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce.
The University of Missouri (MU) Life Science Business Incubator at Monsanto Place is a 33,000 square foot wet laboratory facility opened in 2009 in Columbia, MO and is currently home to 30 biomedical, animal health, technology and Internet/software ventures. These companies participate in the technology commercialization program offered by the Missouri Innovation Center. Seventeen of the resident companies are MU spin-off companies; the incubator also recruits both domestic and international companies to the region. The incubator facility is owned by MU and managed by the Missouri Innovation Center, an independent, non-profit organization focused on the translation of research innovations into technologies, products, processes, and new ventures that benefit society.
Plug and Play is building a world-class animal health ecosystem by pairing Silicon Valley technology with the Kansas region's state-of-the-art industry R&D, workforce, and animal health companies. Launched in 2020, the program accelerates 10-12 startups in animal health, ag tech or sustainability every six months. Selection of the startups is based in large part on the focus areas determined by corporate partners, including Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Cargill, and Evergy. Ten startups in the animal health space graduated the inaugural Topeka program in June 2021.
The Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation programs helps facilitate early-stage startups from the concept phase to a sustainable launch in a safe environment of learning, experimenting and mentoring. The Institute offers formal entrepreneurship education to enrolled University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) students and provides educational opportunities for members of the community who are looking for guidance and support as they prepare to launch new ventures.
T-Mobile Accelerator serves as a hub for driving ideas, innovation and action. Focused on collaborative experiences for growth, it delivers year-round programming and activities, including entrepreneurial and tech community engagements, expert speakers and mentorship sessions. Since its inception in 2014 in the smart city corridor of Kansas City, the T-Mobile Accelerator has worked with 67 startup companies that have raised an aggregate of over $51 million since participating in the program. Additionally, 82% of the alumni companies are still in business today.
From whiteboard to boardroom, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Innovation Center partners with the university and the community to spark entrepreneurial efforts within the region and across the country. With a suite of high-impact programs that serve tech ventures, deliver entrepreneurial education and build our entrepreneurial ecosystem, the center helps emerging and existing business owners, including students, faculty and community members, to hone their business basics, evaluate commercialization opportunities and connect with the right resources at the right time.