Ann Arbor Spark

Business incubator/accelerator services Spark creates long-term regional prosperity by accelerating the growth of start-ups and early-stage companies through support by offering direct and consultant services. Spark creates a place where early-stage companies can conduct business at affordable rates and can co-locate with other entrepreneurs and in the eco-system. Spark offers those companies educational and networking events in the incubator space. We create an ecosystem whereby start-ups can connect easily with resources they need at early stages to launch and establish, thus attracting start-ups to this region. This supports growth in the companies themselves, the direct support services, and the region's economy, creating a virtuous cycle of economic growth. Spark is part of the award-winning global epicenter of mobility (gem) program, administering the entrepreneur-in-residence (eir) component of the program. Another major program Spark is part of is sweep (automated street sweeper), which is part of the transatlantic autonomous driving alliance (a group to create a network connecting u.s. and german companies to develop autonomous vehicle technologies). Once the sweeper is tested, Spark will work with the local municipality to pilot its use. In 2022 Spark assisted 333 innovation start-ups which currently employ 983 fte. Spark nurtured 101 incubator tenants.

Mi stem forward: in partnership with the Michigan economic development corporation, Spark worked to promote stem talent retention in the state by running an internship matching program. The program recruits talented college students to populate a talent database, gathers impactful internship opportunities from innovative companies throughout the state, and then covers the administrative burdens and 50% of the cost of the resulting placements. As of december 2022, Spark recruited 588 students (increasing the database of interns to 2,589), as well as more than 400 companies. These companies have posted over 646 unique job descriptions with a ratio of 4:1 interns/job; 61% of interns were offered a position by the company they interned with.

Business development (expansion, attraction, retention) Spark maximizes potential jobs and capital investment in the region and helps grow the region's gdp through the retention and expansion of established driving industry companies and the targeted attraction domestically and internationally of similar companies that fit the region's identified clusters. This is done by regular communication with local businesses to determine their needs, making key business introductions, assisting with site selection, collaborating with local municipalities, and assisting companies in working with local academic partners to communicate talent needs. This year the major companies Spark supported are: "luxwall: (a building materials innovator) - to set up their facility in ypsilanti township, "startorious: (an international life science support company) to set up a facility in Ann Arbor to serve as a hub of their north american r&d operations, "hatci: (hyundai america technical center, inc.) - to expand their r&d automotive campus in superior township with investment of 51m. In 2022, with 24 successful company growth projects, the team facilitated new investment commitments totaling more than 155 million. These projects led to the creation of 559 new jobs and the retention of over 900 existing ones, thereby strengthening the local workforce.

Communication and community engagement: Spark uses its established platform of social media followers, website traffic, and brand awareness to expand local, regional, statewide, national, and global awareness of the Ann Arbor region's attractiveness for business location and career and life opportunities. Spark also promotes community events that market the region as a great place to start a business and/or work for a start-up. Our weeklong series of events, a2tech360, had 25 total events and over 13.5k registered attendees, 2.1m social media views and 70.4k web page views. Capital funding: Michigan angel fund & spark.capital (formerly Michigan pre-seed fund). The mission of our funding programs is to support high-tech companies throughout the state at their earliest stages of development and position these high-growth companies to be able to raise additional capital and investments. Capital programs are an intentional economic development tool that pays itself back, allowing the funds to be redeployed for future reinvestment into more companies. With 155 members, the Michigan angel fund (maf) is the largest angel organization in Michigan. The group has 40 companies, filling an important funding gap by investing in very early-stage companies across the state that are not yet primed for venture and other sources of capital. Maf is managed by Ann Arbor Spark. Spark.capital fund is designed to retain entrepreneurial companies. These are high-risk investments with a forecast of about 65% projected to reach the next level of funding.