Fayette Washington Keystone Innovation Zone

PA Breaker to receive $10,000 business micro grant from Fayette-Washington Keystone Innovation Zone (FWKIZ).

Joe Podolinski, coordinator for the FWKIZ announced “PA Breaker of Canonsburg, Washington County has been awarded a business micro grant. PA Breaker developed a 145k V class breaker that is one of a kind and involves green technologies. The business micro grant will help them with the costs associated with product design and prototype development, testing and patent application. Ravi Rahangdale,  President of Pennsylvania Breaker said “with the help of the FWKIZ Business Micro Grant, we have completed testing on our 145k V class breaker.  This breaker includes features that we developed that do not appear on the breakers of other manufactures.  This puts us in excellent position to attract more sales and expand our workforce”. PA Breaker also has plans for a 245k V breaker and a 72k V to be tested and developed before the end of the year.

PA Breaker is a subsidiary of Pennsylvania Transformer LLC and has been in business since 2004.  Dennis Blake, General Manager of the company states “PA Breaker is proud to be the only American-owned designer and manufacturer of high-voltage circuit breakers.  This grant supports our efforts to develop American technology that will create Southwestern Pennsylvania jobs in the ever-critical energy industry”. Podolinski noted that “companies applying for a business micro grant must provide a dollar for dollar match”.

The Fayette-Washington Keystone Innovation Zone is a collaborative project with Fay Penn Economic Development Council and the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Washington through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The focus of the FWKIZ is to work with such companies and colleges/universities to promote innovation, technology and entrepreneurial activity in designated zones.  For companies to be KIZ qualified, a company must be under 8 years old, operate in a designated zone and in one of the targeted industry sectors.

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CLICK ON FORM TO OPEN Alternative-Financing-Forum-09

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Bill Flanagan to moderate Entrepreneurial Forum for Penn State Fayette, California University and Washington & Jefferson students.

 The Fayette-Washington Keystone Innovation Zone is hosting an Entrepreneurial Forum which will be held on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA   Wednesday, November 18^th at 1:00 p.m.  Interested students from CUP, PSF and W&J are invited to attend and will have a meet and greet opportunity with panel members following the event. 

Joe Podolinski, coordinator for the FWKIZ states “This is going to be a great event for students to learn from experts with diverse business, legal, educational and funding backgrounds. We have an all-star panel with multiple years of entrepreneurial experience”.  Bill Flanagan Executive Vice President for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and host of Our Regions Business (WPXI, PCNC) and former Money Editor for (KDKA) will serve as moderator.   

The Entrepreneurial Forum is part of a joint effort by the local colleges and universities to create more awareness and opportunities for students to take an idea, concept or product and start a new business.   The event will be a part of Entrepreneur Week 2009 where similar events, conferences and business competitions will be taking place worldwide.

 Transportation arrangements will be provided for California University and Penn State Fayette students pending registrations. Registration deadline is Monday, November 2, 2009

 To sign-up for the event and transportation:

 CUP students should contact John Michaels, Business and Economics Department, michaels@calu.edu, or 724.938.4371

 W&J students should contact Terese Fiedler, Conferences & Events, tfiedler@washjeff.edu, or 724.223.6511

 PSF students should contact Gina Jones, HDFS/Internships, gmj117@psu.edu  or 724.430.4100 ext. 4889

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The Fayette-Washington Keystone Innovation Zone is announcing a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) event intended for interested businesses, faculty members, and administrators from California University of Pennsylvania, Penn State Fayette and Washington & Jefferson College.

The event is a collaborative effort by the FWKIZ and California University of PA.

The SBIR/STTR event will be held at the Kara Alumni House, on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA on Wednesday, November 3, 2009. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. with the event running from 4:00 – 6:00 p. m.  Greg Rice from the University of Pittsburgh’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will deliver the presentation.

Every year, the SBIR & STTR programs have $2.5 billion dollars available. Joe  Podolinski  coordinator of the FWKIZ  states “ this is a tremendous opportunity for interested businesses and faculty from CUP, PSF and W&J to learn the requirements of these programs to determine if they have solutions and technologies that will be applicable.Attendees will not only learn the basics of SBIR/STTR, they will also learn pre-qualification issues, steps for applying, proposal writing tips that make your innovation stand out and strategies to make their technology appealing to fund providers, and participating federal agencies”.

 Businesses and faculty interested in attending this event should contact Joe Podolinski at 724.437.7913 or email him at joep@faypenn.org.

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Washington & Jefferson College was recently awarded a Keystone Innovation Starter Kit grant of $150,000 through the Fayette-Washington Keystone Innovation Zone program.  These funds will be used to recruit a faculty member, build curriculum, develop labs, staff and equipment inorder to leverage private funding for their research in Bioinformatics.  W & J was one of 18 colleges and universities across the state to recieve a KISK grant. Congratulations to  W & J!

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