MTI, UMaine launching new startup program

Editor's note: The story has been updated after the organizers issued a few corrections to their original announcement.

The Maine Technology Institute and the University of Maine are launching a startup accelerator program in Bangor next month for up to three startups that have “high-growth potential.”

The pilot program, called Scratchpad Accelerator, starts Aug. 31 and will require the four participating businesses to work long days for the following three months in the Bangor area, according to a UMaine announcement. Scratchpad is accepting applications online through Aug. 14.

After the deadline closes, Scratchpad will choose up to four businesses that will each receive seed funding, mentoring guidance and daily learning lessons throughout the program’s duration. The program will also help the businesses fast-track ideas, which Scratchpad’s organizers said will help them save time and money.

The program’s location is to be determined, though it will be in the Bangor area, according to Scratchpad’s website.

The program’s staff will consist of Jason Harkins, associate professor of entrepreneurship at the Maine Business School; Jennifer Hooper, mentor and entrepreneur coordinator at the UMaine Foster Center for Student Innovation; and Joe Migliaccio, MTI’s director of business development.

To be eligible, Scratchpad said applicants must be a current or potential MTI portfolio company and have a team of two-to-three people working on the business full time. In addition, business ideas must have “high-growth potential” over the next decade and “address a market that has total value of more than $100 million. It also needs to be in one of the following sectors: biotechnology, advanced materials/composites, environmental tech, forest products/agriculture, information technology, marine tech and aquaculture and precision manufacturing.