N2Tec Institute

N2TEC Institute recently announced the four teams whose start-up businesses will take part in the 2009 Technology Accelerator Program in Sioux Falls, South Dakota beginning in June.  They will be awarded grants of $15,000 each and spend 8 weeks in incubators in Sioux Falls and Vermillion to refine their businesses and get ready to launch.  The four teams of entrepreneurs and their companies are:

Eric Hesla and Kyle Mulder, Bid Your Hunt (pictured right), Canton, SD.  Bid Your Hunt is an Internet business that serves as an online auction and communication medium to link pheasant hunters to South Dakota land owners.

Nathanael Edwards, Edwards Robotics, Corvallis, Oregon.  Edwards Robotics will offer custom robot solution and engineering consulting services.

John Meyer and Scott Meyer, 9 Cloud, Minneapolis, MN.  Ideas on Whiteboards will offer clients social media management and online advertising services and by developing the technological skills and project ideas of voluntter workers.

John Warner and Brandon Bruder, Bowhunting Science, Yankton, SD.  Bowhunting Science will develop and market a tracking device that assists bowhunters with tracking and locating their wounded game animals.

In addition to the grant winners, 4 additional businesses are participating in the immersion workshop and the subsequent mentoring.  They are:

2 Digit Media - Robert Admundson

Academic Improvement - Ryan VanZee and Brad Peterson

Microtech - Suleman Said

Inspired Gear - Karen Weeden

The teams will be mentored by a variety of experts within South Dakota and throughout the N2TEC network.  The Accelerator program launches June 9 wilth a four-day intensive Advanced Invention to Venture workshop put on by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).