SilkoTek’s steady climb to success has paid off for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, who agreed to fund this startup in 2009. SilcoTek was born out of Restek Performance Coatings (RPC), a business unit of Restek that was acquired by local entrepreneur Paul Silvis and a group of RPC employees.

The Ben Franklin TechCelerator, housed in Innovation Park, was announced as the first of 26 recipients to receive a 2014 Regional Innovation Strategies program grant. Penn State received a $500,000 i6/Cluster Grant for Seed Capital Funds to help further develop the TechCelerator.

Driven by Penn State president Eric Barron, Penn State is launching a series of new initiatives to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the state. Among these initiatives is the Penn State Summer Founders Program, which provides six teams of entrepreneurs (including at least one Penn State student each) with $10,000 grants to pursue their startups between May 18 and August 1 in State College. Thanks to this program, students will have the space and the funding to run with their innovative ideas and to spend a summer focusing on their start-ups. Barron hopes to create the future generation of Penn State entrepreneurs with this program and others like it.

On April 7, Innovation Park hosted Economics Pennsylvania’s 6th annual Centre County Entrepreneurship Challenge. This event is sponsored by statewide by Economics Pennsylvania, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young people understand necessary economic concepts and the structure of the global economy, in addition to developing economic ways of thinking and problem-solving skills.

Innovation Park Launches Quarterly Publication: Journeys

Innovation Park at Penn State recently launched its quarterly publication, Journeys. This first publication was inserted into the PA Business Central, reaching over 35,000 readers in 22 counties.

Looking for a copy of the first edition of JourneysView an electronic copy, or stop by the Innovation Park office and see Brenda Cummins or Michelle Cook for a print copy.