June 13, 2016 EditionEdition

Robots. To be exact, underwater drones that could find faults in nuclear reactors, be used for defense or security and teach us more about the world's oceans. They're Sampriti Bhattacharyya's favorite subject, and she'll be sharing her inventions during her keynote at Maine Startup and Create Week.

Scaling up a business is a fun challenge and key to Maine's economic growth. Maine has 28,000 businesses with four to 19 employees, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. If these businesses increase by five-fold, the number of jobs is estimated to rise by close to 500,000, almost doubling non-farm jobs in Maine.

Working with businesses here at the Maine Small Business Development Centers I have the opportunity to work with different challenges all the time. That's why I enjoy the job so much. But occasionally things come up that make you sit back and reflect on management and how much it has changed — and at the same time how much it has stayed the same!

Given how well known the Portland Pie Co.'s brand is in Maine, it is remarkable to consider that it began 19 years ago as an 800-square-foot takeout and delivery joint on India Street.

It should be mandatory at the end of every project — and, if possible, at the end of every phase — to run a lessons learned session. And not only run it, but make sure that it's documented and available to all future projects.

LD 1655, a bill designed to increase the number of science, technology, engineering or mathematics professionals in Maine, received strong bipartisan support from both Gov. Paul LePage and Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland, as it made its way to enactment and becoming a new law.

Greg Dugal, president and CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association, readily admits the salary threshold for employers to avoid paying overtime when salaried employees work more than 40 hours is too low and needs to be hiked.

A mini-boom in small-business activity is taking place in Town Hill, a small village that's part of the busy tourist town of Bar Harbor, but is located on its outermost fringe.

Since last October I've been a co-leader with my good friend Gary Lawless of a monthly Sunday morning walk in the 235-acre Cathance River Nature Preserve in Topsham. The preserve is a hidden gem within the Highland Green retirement community, with a network of trails that circle a heath, cut through a small clearing with wild blackberries and blueberries and descend through a mixed forest to a winding river that alternates between whitewater rapids and placid passages that perfectly mirror the tall trees lining its banks.

With consumer demand for chemical-free products at an all-time high, Good Natured Brand's line of all-natural cleaning and personal care products is finding a profitable and expanding niche.

New hiresMaine Medical Partners, a department of Maine Medical Center in Portland, hired William Talpey, George Russell...

Sebago Brewing has seen high growth over the past two years, during which it changed its branding as well as its packaging to cans to better suit wholesale buyers, saw wholesale sales volume rise 65%, while also enduring a costly, self-initiated recall of beer it thought was of poor quality.

When the site of Cappy's Chowder House, a downtown mainstay since the 1970s at 1 Main St., became available for lease earlier this year, Sea Dog Brewing Co. jumped at the opportunity.

The Mainebiz small business focus is typically our largest issue of the year, not including the Book...