Plug and Play Innovation Summit Unleashes Topekas Animal Health and Agtech Potential

Startland News The Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and unusual ideas that find success in startup centers in rural America and the Midwest outside the Kansas City subway. This series is made possible by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is leading a nationwide collaborative effort to identify and remove barriers, big and small, to starting new businesses.

TOPEKA A unique Plug and Play innovation summit on Tuesday in Topeka is expected to unite the region's animal health corridor.

The first time we went out to Topeka and saw the landscape and the business ecosystem, the enthusiasm and really the challenges ahead, we said to ourselves: we have to be here, said Stephen Fay, Plug and Plays director of corporate partnerships. .

The summit will see a variety of guests and sponsors, including in Kansas City Fulcrum Global Capital and Evergy Ventures meet at Security Benefit in the capital of Kansas for a day of panels, sessions and celebrating a Plug and Play presence at Topeka.

With our broad understanding of technologies and solutions in different industries, including at the intersections of (agricultural technology) and animal health and biosciences, we were very pleased to explore and nurture this ecosystem here in Topeka, a said Fay.

Click on here Find out more about Plug and Plays plans for Topekas' emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem.

First announced in mid-2019, Plug and Play continues to work with leaders in the Kansas City area of ​​two states to identify key industry challenges in animal health and agtech.

Once the accelerator understands these challenges, Plug and Play is expected to recruit six to 10 startups to participate in the city's first highly anticipated accelerator scheduled for this summer, the company said.

We are proud that Topeka has been selected as one of the key Plug and Plays locations outside Silicon Valley and New York, said Katrin Bridges, senior vice president of innovation at Greater Topeka Partnerships.. This partnership will play a key role in making our region a globally recognized hub for animal health and innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship in agricultural technology.

Scheduled guests include:

• Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug and Play;
• Stephen Fay – Director of Corporate Partnerships, Plug and Play;
• Hutch Moragne, Director, Product and Strategy, Plug and Play;
• Matt Pivarnik, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Topeka Partnership;
• Katrin Bridges, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Greater Topeka Partnership;
• Michelle De La Isla, mayor of Topeka;
• David Toland, Kansas Secretary of Commerce

Panel: Animal health corridor

• Kim Young, President KC Animal Health Corridor;
• Jesper Nordengaard, CEO, Hill’s Pet Nutrition;
• Lee Borck, President, Innovative Livestock Services;
• Dr. Dan Richardson, Corporate Hills and academic;
• Dr. Tom Overbay, Partner, Expedite Animal Health.

Panel: Venture capital

• Duane Cantrell, Managing Partner and CEO, Fulcrum Global Capital;
• Brock Smith, Managing Director, Evergy Ventures;
• Michelle Shi, Risk Associate, Food, Plug and Play.

Panel: Best practices of the boot driver

• John Keddy, CTO and CISO, Security Benefit in conversation with Hutch Moragne, responsible for corporate partnerships, Insurtech, Plug and Play.

This story is possible thanks to the support of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, non-partisan foundation that works with communities in the field of education and entrepreneurship to create unusual solutions and empower people to shape their future and succeed.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and log in to www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdnandwww.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn

Facebook Comments