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WESTBOROUGH - On Friday, July 24, 2020, a panel of expert judges declared Speakeasy Travel Supply of Cape Cod the winner of the first COVID-19 Intrapreneur Challenge, a competition focused on companies pivoting operations to produce general-use face masks. The Challenge featured pitches from 11 established Massachusetts companies, who pitched their designs and business plans aimed at addressing the ongoing public health challenge.

DARTMOUTH, MASS. – Yesterday, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and executives from UMass Dartmouth celebrated the announcement of a new $739,936 award from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to support the development of a new research and development laboratory in New Bedford to study biodegradable and ocean-safe plastics. The new Plastics Biodegradation Laboratory at UMass Dartmouth will enable efficient testing of plastic biodegradation, helping address the significant waste caused by traditional plastics used in textiles, packaging, and other products that accumulate in the ocean and other water resources.

YARMOUTH – October 22, 2018 – Today, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash announced a $100,000 grant to a new partnership formed by Cape Cod Young Professionals, a Barnstable-based non-profit, and the Cape Cod branch of Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) to foster entrepreneurship on Cape Cod. EforAll is a non-profit which has had enormous success in driving inclusive entrepreneurship in mid-sized cities across Massachusetts. Over the next year, the grant will fund the launch of a new accelerator for the Cape region, a multi-week program designed to nurture the development of new businesses, and pitch events aimed at providing seed funding to founders with ideas for new businesses or social impact organizations.

WORCESTER – Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash announced an $80,000 grant to the organization Worcester Roots yesterday, an award that will support the development of cooperative businesses and non-profits in the region. The grant was awarded as part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s (MassTech) Entrepreneurship Mentoring Grant program, an effort that aims to develop strong mentorship ecosystems across the Commonwealth. During the roundtable event, which took place at Becker College’s Center for Global Citizenship, Secretary Ash spoke with graduates of Worcester Roots’ programs, who each highlighted the critical mentoring and resources they received, support that was critical to their success.

SPRINGFIELD – Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash announced $160,000 in grants to support entrepreneur mentoring programs at two organizations in the Pioneer Valley, Springfield’s Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) and SPARK in Holyoke. These grants were made under the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s (MassTech) Entrepreneurship & Mentoring Program, which aims to develop strong mentorship ecosystems in regions across the Commonwealth. The state’s investments will boost programs managed by VVM and SPARK which provide sustainable support for a range of innovative small businesses and non-profits, ranging from start-ups to companies that are ‘scaling up’ for planned expansions.

WOODS HOLE, MASS. – The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has awarded the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) a $5 million grant toward the construction of new facilities for the testing and research into innovative marine robotics such autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The five-year grant award is being made as part of the Collaborative Research and Development Matching Grant Program, managed by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech). The grant to WHOI’s Center for Marine Robotics will help accelerate the deployment of new and existing marine robotics technologies in Massachusetts.

BURLINGTON – Today the Baker-Polito Administration announced a $3 million grant to Northeastern University to establish the Advanced Nanomanufacturing Cluster for Smart Sensors and Materials (“ANSSeM”), a consortium of private manufacturing companies and tier-one research universities working on new methods to create smart sensors and other revolutionary materials using ‘nanoscale’ printing processes.

SPRINGFIELD – Today the Baker-Polito Administration announced a $5 million grant to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to establish the UMass Amherst Data Science/Cybersecurity Research and Education Collaborative, a public-private partnership designed to accelerate data science innovation in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. The Commonwealth’s investment will help drive the commercialization of new products and ideas, train a leading data science workforce and support collaborative regional economic development activities.

WESTBOROUGH –The Massachusetts Cybersecurity Mentorship Program, an effort to grow and diversify the cyber workforce in Massachusetts, has reached several critical program milestones, eclipsing 100 students supported through the program, including 41 in the current session, an increase of 16 from fall 2021.

Launched as a pilot in fall 2020, the Cybersecurity Mentorship Program pairs diverse undergraduate students from across the Commonwealth with mentors from the state’s cybersecurity sector. Of the 41 mentors in the spring 2022 session, 18 are new to the program, representing 10 new organizations committed to the initiative.