2014-15: PTI One of 50 Winners Nationally of SBA Nationwide Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         September 9, 2014

Harla Sherwood

National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va.

harla.sherwood@nianet.org

757-636-6300

Tom Flake

Peninsula Technology Incubator

t.g.flake@gmail.com

757-286-4927

NIA Release:  2014-15

PTI One of 50 Winners Nationally of SBA Nationwide Competition

The Peninsula Technology Incubator a wholly owned subsidiary of National Institute of Aerospace and funded by a grant from the City of Hampton today announced that its “E64 Project” has been selected as one of 50 winners nationwide of the Small Business Administration competition to invest in job creators.

Tom Flake, Director of Peninsula Technology Incubator said,” We are humbled to be awarded this $50,000 grant. Eight hundred (800) viable candidates applied from around the country.  To be one of only 50 selected nationally validates our approach.  The E64 project, was conceived in collaboration with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation’s study group on entrepreneurship and this funding will enable us to bring additional programs to the entrepreneurs of The757 and communicate our key message:

1. There are good opportunities in Hampton Roads for young people to stay here
2. This is a good place to find funding for a new business
3. People will cross the bridge tunnel
4. The municipalities can and do work together
5. Innovative businesses do grow here

Flake went on to say, “Whether it is the growing availability of capital to fund startup in Hampton Roads or the fact that our startup companies compete successfully in a variety of ways around the globe, there is a growing body of evidence that we can and do produce companies in The757 that are world class.”

The funding received from the Small Business Administration will be employed to fund gaps in the local “Entrepreneurship Club”, “Mini-Meetups”, “Pitch Perfect”, “Start up weekends”, “Accelerators”, “Shark Tanks”, “Incubators”, and “VC competitions”.  To find out more about the wide variety of activities going on in The757’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, one of the first things we will be doing is putting up a centralized website, a clearinghouse for information.  Until then interested readers can go to any of the following:

For more information about the National Institute of Aerospace, visit: www.nianet.org
For more information about the Peninsula Technology Institute, visit:

www.ptincubator.org