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Ideas that work are inventions, but they’re not innovations until they’ve been successfully commercialized. That’s where InnovationWorks comes in; they help accelerate the business of invention. When that happens, companies and even whole economies go from being stable to vibrant. Learning to pool assets to gain a competitive edge is emphasized as the key to further growth. InnovationWorks brings together the many resources already found in the West Michigan community.

• To recognize original thoughts
• To join this potential with resources so that they can be realized
• To direct firms and citizens on how to apply principles of commercialization from with their organization

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"As the entrepreneur, there are many demands on you. It is not possible to attend to all of them by yourself, especially as the business continues to grow. And to add to the overload issue, new skills will be demanded of you. So how can you continue to grow with your business?" Read and learn about culture, exit planning, leadership, and strategy with these Entrepreneurial stories and advice.

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"USASBE is the leading voice in entrepreneurship research, teaching, and application.  Our mission is to advance knowledge and foster business development through entrepreneurship education and research."

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"The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. We recognize that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America's future, and to helping the United States compete in today's global marketplace. Although SBA has grown and evolved in the years since it was established in 1953, the bottom line mission remains the same. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam."

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Lakeshore Advantage, the area’s one-stop organization for assisting serious entrepreneurs, will connect you with key community resources critical to the success of your business. The Lakeshore Business Garden offers a stimulating environment for growing your business with additional amenities such as one on one success strategy coaching, networking and collaborative opportunities and access to high level business advisors. Lakeshore Advantage is also dedicated in helping your business expand. It is our mission to find every advantage available for companies and assist them in growing and prospering in the lakeshore area. If your company is considering a new location, we are confident you will be successful with us as well. Lakeshore Advantage offers prospective companies high-level, confidential site location services. We walk hand-in-hand with companies throughout the relocation decision making process to ensure a smooth transition, healthy start and successful future.

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Product Development and Management Association is a global organization of over 3500 members engaged in the profession of new product development and innovation. 

With innovation and new product development getting more attention than ever, new product development professionals are increasingly called to do more with less, to bring better products to market more quickly, more efficiently, and more predictably.  Concurrently, innovation and new product development has become a global activity with teams and organizations across the world collaborating, competing, and sometimes doing both concurrently.  To succeed today in our profession, new product development professionals need to continuously improve their skills and stay connected with new developments in our profession. PDMA is your conduit to the information and connections you need to succeed!

PDMA.org is your portal into the many elements of PDMA.

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