AURP "On the Road" with Brian Darmody, Chief Strategy Officer

The National Harbor conference center in Maryland outside of Washington DC was home to two large tech gatherings involving AURP.

SBA’s Brittany Sickler and SSTI’s Jason Rittenberg at SBIR conference

From June 17-19, the SBIR/STTR Spring Innovation Conference took place. AURP’s Rural Autonomous Innovation Network (RAIN) was invited as a Stage 1 Growth Accelerator winner along with other Growth Accelerator winners from across the U.S.

From June 23-June 26, National Harbor also hosted the SelectUSA Investment Summit with over 5,000 attendees from U.S. and around the world supporting international investment in the U.S. AURP was invited by the US Department of Commerce to host an exhibit table as an Economic Development Partner.

Over 40 states had exhibition booths and governors from NC, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Virginia, Nevada, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois spoke about their state’s ecosystems including role of research parks and innovation districts.

AURP Chief Strategy Officer Brian Darmody with Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo discussing UNLV Research Park at state of Nevada booth

 

InBIA’s Charles Ross and Georgia Tech’s Juli Golemi at InBIA booth representing soft landing programs

 

The state of Arkansas booth proved to be perfect place to promote AURP 2024 International Conference in Bentonville, AR, (November 11-14, 2024)

Sessions included an overview of incubators and soft-landing programs with Charles Ross from InBIA and Carol Stewart from the University of Arizona Tech Parks, as well as panels on venture funding, government programs to assist international companies and pitch competition for international start-up firms.