Matt Raker's Blog (254)

You’re an entrepreneur starting a venture with high-growth potential. You have a promising business plan and the drive and enthusiasm needed to take your product or idea to market. The problem? Credit cards are maxed out. You’ve borrowed all you can from friends and family (still managing to keep your relationships intact). The banks aren’t ready to talk to you - and…

From the crew at Noble Cider...

Friday May 17, 2013 ASHEVILLE, NC - Asheville’s first hard cider company, Noble Cider, hosts a public release of its inaugural small batch at the Wedge Brewing Company, on Wednesday June 5, from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The Noble crew will be onsite to meet and greet, answer questions, and enjoy Noble Cider with Asheville.

Party goers can help Noble Cider raise funds for their fall batch…

Accelerating Appalachia^TM, the nation’s first business accelerator focused on nature-based companies, has officially launched and is seeking entrepreneurs for its inaugural class. The mentor and investor driven program is aimed at attracting and growing innovative, high-impact ventures in areas such as food products, agroforestry, fiber, green building, craft…

Brevard-based company SylvanSport, makers of the lightweight pop up camping trailer GO, have teamed up with AdvantageWest to present 18 Western North Carolina gear-making companies in a special Outdoor Gear Builders Village at the 13^th annual Mountain Sports Festival in Asheville, NC, on May 24-26. Upwards of 15,000 visitors are expected to attend the festival. The Outdoor Gear Builders Village will be the inception for a new network of over 20 local gear-making…

Asheville's Rightline Gear, a maker of outdoor products including tents and cargo bags, has a great feature story in the current edition the Citizen-Times' Ideas section.  Read the full post here:…

Check a great article on this new alliance from NutraIngredients-usa.com.  A segment follows.

"An assortment of nonprofit  groups has formed the Natural Products Alliance of North Carolina, an official with the group said. The alliance will help regional companies grow, formulate, test, make, and brand their botanically-based…

(PV Tech) Third party-owned solar in California generated US$938 million…

The US Department of Energy has officially designated the Land-of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition as the 85th…

Here's a quick snippet from Jim Kennerly's Regulartory Update as Regulatory Analyst for the NC Sustainable Energy Association:

At its staff conference on Tuesday, January 22nd, the Utilities Commission granted certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCNs) to several dozen utility-scale solar projects totaling 166 megawatts (MW) in nameplate capacity. While there is no guarantee…

NC IDEA is an organization committed to supporting business innovation and economic advancement in North Carolina.  It will host a series of information sessions in February to present its grant program for NC-based entrepreneurs.  Companies focused on software, information technology, medical diagnostics and devices, material sciences and green technologies are encouraged to apply.

There are two pre-proposal deadlines for…

Here's the press release from the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development:

Henderson County, NC - Zentric, Inc. announced their plans today to consolidate and relocate operations of the company’s headquarters to Henderson County, NC.  The company plans to create 116 new jobs and invest $7 million in real and business personal property over the next few years.  The location decision marks Zentric’s emergence from a technology development company to an…

From The Atlantic:

Letter of Intent due December 31, 2013.  Full applications due April 15, 2013

This AFRI Challenge Area focuses on the priority to mitigate and adapt to climate variability and change. It supports activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration in agricultural and forest production systems, and prepare the nation's agriculture and forests to adapt to variable climates. The long-term outcome for this program is to reduce the use of energy, nitrogen…

New for 2012-2013:  The Regional Development Grant Program will have three funding cycles.  See preproposal deadlines below.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Regional Development Grant

(RDG) supports economic development initiatives in the life sciences. The goal of the program is to build capacity through collaborative projects and to provide a foundational resource for economic growth that the community could not have achieved without NCBIOTECH…

Renewable energy could fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030 at costs comparable to today's electricity expenses, according to new research by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College.

Read the full story…

Check out this great interview with Maggie Ullman in Grist Magazine as part of their Knope and Changeseries:

Southern sustainability: Asheville’s Maggie Ullman says her city is greener than you think

"Maggie Ullman takes an ecological approach to bureaucracy. “Everyone complains about…

Fast Company has a a great article highlighting Asheville and Western North Carolina's rapidly growing craft beer industry and broader innovation culture!

Long home to a coterie of boutique breweries, Asheville is starting to attract bigger craft-beer brands that see their own (idealized) corporate image in the city's low-key outdoorsy…

In this issue of Natural Products Insider, Bent Creek Institute President, Greg Cumberford, has an intriguing article on how we can replace economically motivated adulteration of natural products with economically motivated integrity. To read…

James E. Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is a leading climate scientist, has a must-read op-ed in the…