2023 Goals
- Continue to provide relevant and impactful business training, mentoring, workshops and visibility to businesses across the state, in multiple industries through our Top Gun and Cultivator & MarketShare Food Accelerator programs.
- Expand our Food Accelerator programs to include more seafood and aquaculture businesses.
- Launch a new FoodTech pilot to support emerging technology companies in the food industry.
- Grow the Maine Bioscience Cluster to include additional academic and business partners across the region to increase technology transfer and commercialization.
- Collaborate closely with the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center to offer our third Visionary Leadership Program to founders and CEO’s seeking to enhance their personal leadership skills.
- Recruit a second cohort of outdoor recreation businesses to participate in our MCE Compass program to support the growing $3 billion outdoor industry in Maine.
- Increase outreach and marketing to traditionally underserved people and geographic areas to support greater business diversity, equity and inclusion in the state.
Fundraising/Event Opportunities
Sponsorship levels and benefits are outlined on our website at: https://www.mced.biz. MCE holds several signature events that showcase our client companies. These events are made possible through a combination of grants and sponsorships. Each May we conclude our 15-week entrepreneurial training program with the Top Gun Showcase and Pitch Competition. In June we bring together food and beverage client companies for the Maine Food Producer Showcase & Golden Fork Awards. In the fall we hold the Maine Bioscience Venture Summit focused on emerging life science businesses. In addition, we seek sponsorships to cover educational workshop series and the day-to-day operations of our various programs.
Giving Opportunities
MCE is always looking for in-kind donations of large meeting space for our various events, in-kind services such as marketing and human resources support, and for sponsors who are interested in underwriting the important work we do to grow and diversify Maine’s economy.
Volunteer Opportunities
Our Maine Mentor Network consists of over 200 volunteer mentors with deep business experience and subject matter expertise. While most of our members are industry generalists, in recent years we have focused on building our bench of expertise in several target industries including: food, beverage, aquaculture, biosciences and outdoor recreation. The Maine Mentor Network is managed by a seasoned business veteran who carefully matches mentors with our client businesses. In addition to new mentors, we are always seeking new volunteer board members who bring experience in business incubators and scale up, technology commercialization and venture capital.
