PHILADELPHIA--(September 17, 2021) – The Science Center has been selected as a winner of the Small Business Association’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) for its Launch Lane Accelerator. The 2021 competition features 84 winners representing accelerators and incubators who proposed targeted assistance to STEM/R&D entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, rural, and veteran entrepreneurs. The GAFC prize winners support a broad range of industries including clean energy, supply chain resilience, and infrastructure. Many accelerators and incubators also work to expand the participation of innovation-focused small businesses located in HUBZones. GAFC winners will each receive a $50,000 prize.
The Science Center’s Launch Lane Accelerator is focused on supporting minority entrepreneurs in accelerating and commercializing social determinants of health technologies to support the US economy while addressing key issues in diversity and wealth disparity.
With the award, the Science Center will focus on:
- Outreach to minority entrepreneurs nationally in the field of social determinants of health.
- Increase support and activities relation to capital connections to minority entrepreneurs
- Leverage existing infrastructure and programming to build a robust package of support for diverse founders across commercialization continuum building on existing SBIR/STTR support mechanisms and activities.
View the SBA announcement here.
