Building a Rainforest in the Desert | January 2025

Hear from Gabriel P. López, Ph.D., on the importance of disclosing inventions and protecting intellectual property at the University of New Mexico through the technology transfer office, UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI).

Dr. López is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and serves as interim chair of the UNM Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dr. López received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado in 1985 and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1991 from the University of Washington.

UNM inventors can learn more about protecting and disclosing their intellectual property here.

The purpose of the UNM Business and Economic Summits are to continue a statewide dialogue about ways to grow our New Mexico economy and our innovation ecosystem. The goal is to convene stakeholders from across New Mexico. The 2025 summit will highlight New Mexico as A National Leader in Entrepreneurship.

Agenda:

• 8:00-8:30 a.m. – Networking & Refreshments
• 8:30-8:45 a.m. – Welcome & Opening Remarks
• 8:45-9:30 a.m. – Panel: Indigenous Companies
• 9:30-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Small Businesses
• 10:15-10:30 a.m. – Networking break
• 10:30-11:15 a.m. – Panel: Digital Arts Companies
• 11:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m. – Panel: Technology Companies
• 12:00-12:15 p.m. – Networking break/Lunch
• 12:15-1:15 p.m. – Keynote Speaker: Victor Hwang, Founder, Right to Start
• 1:15-2:00 p.m. – Panel: Bioscience Companies
• 2:00 -2:15 p.m. – Networking break
• 2:15-3:00 p.m. – Panel: Engineering Companies
• 3:00-4:00 p.m. – Panel: The Role that Government Plays in Continuing Entrepreneurial Economic Development in New Mexico
• 4:00 p.m. – Closing Remarks followed by a Networking Reception

Can't Make it Person? Register on Zoom to join remotely.

The New Mexico Quantum Technologies Award Pilot Program is a competitive state-funded grant that awards non-dilutive funds to early-stage companies working in quantum technologies. Eligible companies must be located in New Mexico or establishing a presence in New Mexico.

Through this award, the New Mexico Economic Development Department seeks to support the growth or relocation of quantum technology companies in New Mexico to expand economic base businesses and create jobs.

The department seeks to make five awards of $100,000 each. Award funds must go toward company activity in New Mexico, and awardees will agree to maintain their company presence in the state for a minimum of two years. Applicants outside of the state must affirm their ability to establish a company presence in New Mexico, should they be selected for an award. Awards made by this pilot program can not be the first money in — previously secured funding from additional sources is required.

Accepting applications on a rolling basis from December 5, 2024, through May 30, 2025.

Learn more and apply

The 2024 Pitch Deck Competition, co-hosted by UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI) and the UNM Innovation Academy, provided a platform for student entrepreneurs to pitch their early-stage companies and innovations. UNMRI, the University of New Mexico’s technology transfer and economic-development organization, and UNM Innovation Academy, which offers entrepreneurial studies programs, collaborated to offer the event. Sponsored by the UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors, the event attracted student entrepreneurs aiming to start or grow their ventures. A $20,000 prize pool was distributed among five finalists, who pitched their ideas to a panel of investor judges. Additionally, the UNM Accelerating Resilience Innovations in Drylands (ARID) Institute awarded a special $2,000 prize for a pitch demonstrating excellence in resilience-related innovations.

See list of winners

Read more: Article featured in the Albuquerque Business First, UNM hosts Pitch Deck Competition, awards $20,000

Right to Start, a national movement to make entrepreneurship more accessible, announces their growth to 34 states with over 400 organizations signing their Statement of Principles highlighting entrepreneurship as a national priority.

Right to Start is leading a nationwide movement to make entrepreneurship easier for everyone. Over the past year, Right to Start’s footprint has expanded significantly, now with more than 70 people spanning 34 states total (including Washington D.C.) as they continue to advocate for greater entrepreneurial opportunity in every community across the nation.

Read more

UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI) is partnering with the City of Santa Fe Office of Economic Development to fund a Tribal Liaison position aimed at supporting tribal entrepreneurs in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. This two-year initiative seeks to address the unique challenges faced by Native American entrepreneurs, helping them start and grow successful businesses.

The Tribal Liaison will connect with local entrepreneurs to understand their needs, identify barriers to business growth, and develop strategies to overcome them. Whether it’s providing one-on-one mentoring, organizing workshops, or connecting entrepreneurs to resources, the liaison will help create a stronger, more supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

UNMRI’s New Mexico Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program (NMTEEP) will oversee the liaison, working closely to deliver relevant training and programs. By assessing the local entrepreneurial landscape, the liaison will help bridge gaps and connect tribal entrepreneurs to existing support services.

Read more

How to Leverage Grants for Your Business

In this episode with Mary Ben, Co-Founder of Bidii Baby Foods and Director of The BEN Initiative, shares how and why Bidii Baby Foods has used grants to build and grow their business on tribal trust land. She shares what kind of businesses can use this model, what different types of grants there are, and what a business must keep in mind if they want to pursue grant funding.

Check out the podcast

Watch on YouTube

Claiming Space for Xicana Culture in the Beauty Industry

This episode features a powerful and beautiful story from Cece Meadows about her journey starting and growing her successful beauty brand and business, Prados Beauty, while celebrating indigenous culture, roots, resilience, and inclusivity. Cece is a proud Xicana and Indigena (Yoeme) who brings awareness and collaborates with other Native and Indigenous artists through cosmetics.

Check out the podcast

Watch on YouTube

You can apply now for the

Spring 2025 Rainforest Accelerator

Join the upcoming Rainforest Accelerator for the Spring 2025 cohort! In this program, teams of faculty and/or students, entrepreneurs, and mentors (mentors provided by the Rainforest Accelerator) receive up to $3,000 of funding to develop a business model and complete extensive market discovery for a disclosed UNM technology.

The outcomes you can expect through this program include:

• Exploring the transition of your technology to the marketplace.
• Determining the value proposition, customer, the size of the market, and market trends for your technology.
• Receive a dedicated mentor to provide one-on-one guidance.
• Conduct 25-100 discovery interviews and provide a formal presentation to investors at the end of the program to receive feedback on the commercialization opportunity of your technology.

Program time commitment has been condensed and shortened to help accommodate your schedule!

The program will run on Mondays, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. from February 3 – March 24, 2025 online via Zoom meetings. The Final Presentations will be March 24, 2025, in-person at the Lobo Rainforest Building.

For questions, please contact Cara Michaliszyn at cmichaliszyn@innovations.unm.edu

Meet with SCORE mentors at the Lobo Rainforest Building! Dar Johnson and Vik Berniklau will be available for one-on-one, confidential discussions and mentoring to inventors, students, and start-up companies.

SCORE mentors are successful business people and entrepreneurs who want to give back to the community by helping other entrepreneurs become and stay successful. SCORE has been helping small businesses start and grow in the Albuquerque area for over 50 years through mentoring and workshops and seminars. SCORE is the largest National resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA) with about 11,000 SCORE volunteers sharing their time and talents to help America's small businesses.

IN-PERSON at the Lobo Rainforest Building. Click "Sign up here" to select the time frame you plan to attend.

Meet the Mentors:

Dar Johnson has over 57 years in the aerospace private sector and with the Government, including over 38 years in senior and C-level management positions. He has been responsible for achieving growth nation-wide, obtaining new customers, cost containment, turning around marginal operations, increased profitability, customer satisfaction, staffing, and policy and procedure development. He also has worked in business development, proposal support, capture manager and proposal manager. He has owned a successful consulting business.

Areas of Expertise:

• Business Plan
• Government Regulations
• Management & Operations
• Marketing
• Product Development

Vic Berniklau is retired from the US Department of Energy as Senior Executive after filling positions in Technical and Administrative Leadership. Started two small businesses in electronic security with wife and son growing them to 30 employees ($2M sales) and turned them over to son who continues to grow them. Consultant in technology management and business management. Instructor at University of New Mexico at Graduate Level in Public Administration (Research Methodology) and Business Administration (Management of Technology).

Areas of Expertise:

• Accounting & Finance
• Business Plan
• Government Regulations
• Management & Operations
• Product Development
• Technology