MBIA will again host online member meetings in 2022. During these brief sessions, a presenter will share information on a topic of interest. In addition, the host MBIA member will provide information about their program and/or a virtual tour.

The first member meeting will be on February 14 from 2:00-3:00 PM, hosted by the Muskegon Innovation Hub. The guest speaker will be Eric Dougal of HUB International. His session titled "Covering Your Assets: Insurance for Incubators and Clients" is sure to address many aspects of insurance that you and your clients may find relevant. You can register for the virtual event now using this link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pd-CqrT4rHNK8kaSOm_TvmJVE1JvwmxnJ.
 
If your organization would like to host one of the 2022 virtual member meetings, simply email us at michigan.incubation@gmail.com. The available dates are August 8 and November 7.

The MBIA Annual Member Meeting and Workshops in 2022 will take place on May 16 at Ann Arbor SPARK. Please mark the date on your calendar now to join us. The full-day, in-person event will contain lots of networking, best practices, and roundtable conversations. A virtual experience is being planned for those unable to participate in person.

Congratulations again to MBIA board member Bonnie Dawdy. Bonnie recently left the InBIA to become a Program Manager at Spartan Innovations. Way to go, Bonnie!
 

In October 2021, Verizon announced that it was bringing together major Fortune 500 companies to launch Women’s CoLab. Women’s CoLab founding partners include Accenture, A Effect, Degreed, Ferrero, Harvard Business, Mastercard, Scary Mommy, The Achieve Institute, The Estée Lauder Companies, The Female Quotient, UN Foundation, Walmart, Watermark and more. To help women re-enter the workforce and realize their career ambitions, Women’s CoLab aims to provide women with essential resources to help them achieve success in an increasingly digital economy. Read more about the initiative here.

ACTION NEEDED BY FEBRUARY 4TH!

BBC is recruiting organization to sign a letter that is being circulated by SSTI and SBTC supporting the reauthorization of the federal SBIR/STTR program. 
 
They are asking for signatures by Feb. 4, so they can encourage reauthorization as part of any upcoming FY 2022 budget bill.
 
Click this link to sign the letter online. It literally takes less than on minute to complete. https://ssti.org/sbirletter2022
 
The SBIR/STTR authorization expires on Sep. 30, 2022. The goal is to see an early reauthorization so that there will be no disruption to the agencies' management of the program. 
 
In addition to the extension of the primary program, they are asking for an extension of all pilots that are currently authorized, including the "administrative funds" section that supports reporting improvements, the SBIR Road Tour, I-Corps at Dept. of Energy and more. 
 
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide several billion in funding each year that small businesses can use to further develop technologies that support federal agency missions. SBIR/STTR is an important tool for many regional innovation economies. Please take a moment to help keep it strong by signing the letter.