20Fathoms, Michigan Tech partner to advance tech entrepreneurship

Jun. 12—TRAVERSE CITY — Michigan Tech University and Traverse City are separated by more than 360 miles of road and the Mackinac Bridge.

A new program between 20Fathoms and the Upper Peninsula university aims to bridge the distance between the two. An agreement was finalized earlier this year to advance research on campus, helping to turn ideas into start-up businesses in northern Michigan.

Eric Roberts, executive director of the Traverse City incubator 20Fathoms, said the partnership is a benefit to Michigan Tech and the strong start-up ecosystem in the region.

"It's a win for them any time they turn some of that research into a start-up opportunity," Roberts said. "We have so much here that can do that work. We have people, we have capital and we have 20Fathoms to do the incubation."

"The university has a high volume of research that produces discoveries with significant commercial potential, but one of our greatest challenges in moving these discoveries to the market is recruitment of people with business experience in technology startups who can join our companies and take a leadership role in moving the companies in partnership with our technical experts," Jim Baker, associate vice president for research administration at Michigan Tech, said in a release.

Michigan Tech professors receive grant money to perform various research projects, but those ideas don't often move past the initial phase. Roberts said that's where 20Fathoms steps in to "bridge the gap" from basic research to commercial endeavor.

He said it can be "hard to envision what a commercial enterprise looks like" while working in an environment of higher education.

"We need to get the right ideas in front of the right people in Traverse City to advance the research to create start-up businesses," Roberts said.

While Michigan Tech does "what they do" in developing ideas for innovations, Roberts said 20Fathoms will bring "the work people" to the equation.

"Like Jim Baker said, think 5 to 15 hours a week for three to nine months to take this research and get that past the first milestone or two," Roberts said.

He has identified six to 10 people who are willing to put in the time to take a Michigan Tech idea and work on developing it into a commercial start-up or company, whom he refers to as "entrepreneurs in residence." Roberts said he's always looking for more of these entrepreneurs in residence in Traverse City.

The partnership between 20Fathoms and Tech could lead to licensing the technology from the university, which can lead to additional funding for MTU as well as boosting the regional economy of northern Michigan.

"We are very excited about the ongoing collaboration with 20Fathoms to address this challenge in a way that results in economic growth for both of our regions," Baker said in the release.

Roberts took over as executive director at 20Fathoms in September 2021 and a month later was on the Michigan Tech campus talking with Baker and other officials, including a professor involved in the research.

"It's a pretty cool program," Roberts said. "I've been working with Jim Baker up there pretty much since I got here."

There were additional meetings earlier this winter.

During Northern Michigan Startup Week, representatives from the Office of Innovation and Commercialization at Tech visited Traverse City to discuss "a number of ongoing commercialization projects in areas including 3-D printing, renewable energy, plastics recycling and advanced batteries," according to a release.

The May 10 meeting was held at Michigan Tech's Traverse City Research Workspace in the Traverse Connect building at 202 Grandview Parkway.

20Fathoms brought in several members of the local start-up business community. The gathering included not only angel investors and venture investors and advisers, but also those working in human resources and legal.

"We wanted to have a roomful of people that could lift up entrepreneurism as well as the entrepreneurs themselves," Roberts said.

Michigan Tech brought six projects to the table in Traverse City. Roberts said one of those is already off the ground while a couple more are under consideration.

"We have some pretty legitimate traction," Roberts said.

The May 10 face-to-face meeting happened in part because the university was a big part of Northern Michigan Startup Week, which ran May 9-15.

The Huskies also participated in the University Idea Showcase on May 12. Bayle Golden and Roarke Sylvain finished in second place and were voted Audience Favorite after Golden pitched SafeRow, a wearable child safety device.

Golden also participated in the Startup Weekend and served as a mentor to the Tech Girls Club team from Traverse City Central, which competed in the Northwest Michigan Student Pitch Competition on May 13.

While Golden's SafeRow wouldn't be part of the 20Fathoms' research program, it is another example of partnership between Traverse City and Houghton.

"I am absolutely about continuing to grow the relationship with Michigan Tech," Roberts said.

Michigan Tech recently announced it will offer a hybrid Master of Business Administration degree where classes would be held weekly over Zoom at the Workspace Research Center, which opened in October 2021.

Michigan Tech and members of the Grand Traverse Area Michigan Tech Steering Committee, chaired by Promethient Inc. CEO Bill Myers, signed a "Memorandum of Understanding designed to explore collaborative opportunities" in the region, according to an earlier release.

Michigan Tech and Northwestern Michigan College also inked a deal allowing engineering students to transfer two years of NMC credits to MTU.

The 2+2 program allowed students in several different engineering tracks to transfer 60 credits to Michigan Tech, depending on the program, and arrive at MTU as juniors.

An extended agreement earlier in 2021 let Associate of Science in Engineering students transfer 73 credits from NMC to MTU.