NextCycle Michigan Team Showcase
Join us for the 2023 NextCycle Michigan Team Showcase happening at the TechTown Detroit Innovation Center in Detroit. The Showcase will feature 15 teams pitching their businesses and projects as part of the Recycling Innovation Technology (RIT) and Foods, Liquids, & Organic Waste Solutions (FLOWS) Challenge Innovation Tracks. Teams will be split into three pitch areas.
The Team Showcase event is the culmination of NextCycle Michigan programming for Challenge Innovation Track teams. It is an opportunity for the teams to share their accomplishments and refine and deliver a pitch to a larger audience. These teams are pursuing innovative initiatives to advance recycling, recovery, and reuse projects in Michigan. This event will bring together NextCycle Michigan teams, investors, funders, industry leaders, business and community leaders, peers, and media.
The Team Showcase is a unique opportunity to learn about innovative solutions and collaborations, engage with industry professionals, and connect with potential partners and investors.
Read the recap from the previous Team Showcase from last fall to see what to expect from the team pitches or watch a Showcase playlist from our YouTube channel to watch previous NextCycle Michigan team pitches.
Pitch Groups
Food Waste Systems: Innovators engaging in pivotal partnerships and processes to prevent waste and recapture food scraps to higher and better purposes, feeding people and the land, and reducing harmful greenhouse gases.
Advanced Materials & Design: Inventors working on advanced, novel technologies and materials to accelerate the circular economy through tackling hard issues with creative solutions.
Recycling Processing Innovation: Entrepreneurs filling in critical gaps in Michigan's recycling supply chains by expanding collection, advancing processing capacity and supporting end market development.
Participating teams
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City of Ferndale: The City of Ferndale is interested in developing an in-vessel composting system to process organic waste generated through its new residential and commercial food waste collection program.
Partridge Creek Farm: Partridge Creek Farm is an organic waste service hauling from commercial kitchens looking to create an aerobic digester to increase production and capacity.
Metro Food Rescue: Metro Food Rescue is a food rescue organization in the metro Detroit area ready to expand and improve current operations by adding an electric transit van to their fleet.
My Green Michigan: My Green Michigan is an established but growing company in the organics industry that is working to operate at full capacity by increasing customers and material intake.
Scrap Soils: Scrap Soils is an organics collections and compost program that uses wood chips to create compost that can be used as a fertilizer and carbon sequestration method.
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SCOPS Coating Technologies: SCOPS Coating Technologies is developing heat-sealable coating technology for paper to replace single-use plastic packaging.
Harvest Nano: Harvest Nano is recovering and converting biomass waste into valuable nanocellulose products.
Niomin: Niomin supplies materials for new batteries through processing spent batteries and mining waste products.
Plastus: Plastus is a biotech company that converts organic waste into biodegradable bioplastics to produce PHA bioplastics. The integration of PHA’s should lead to a decrease in fossil fuel use and significantly reduce carbon emissions.
Ze Place: ZE Place is a testing facility using anaerobic digestion to produce biomethane and fertilizer while recovering waste food.
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Second-Life Solar: Second-Life Solar is creating a model to divert solar energy components by refurbishing and reusing panels, and recycling end-of-life components.
Post Rock - University of Michigan Taubman College: Post Rock - University of Michigan Taubman College is engineering a new building facade product from upcycled post-industrial plastic waste.
Goodwill Association of Michigan: Goodwill Association of Michigan is designing textile recycling technologies and hub systems to build a stronger, local circular economy.
Duro-Last Roofing: Duro-Last Roofing is establishing infrastructure to increase recycling and diversion of PVC construction materials and increase the circularity of the product in Michigan.
American Classic Dumpster Services: American Classic Dumpster Services is evaluating the feasibility of a material recovery facility (MRF) to process construction and demolition materials in rural Michigan.
Agenda
Click to download digital program.
The following is the tentative agenda for the NextCycle Michigan Showcase.
9:30 am: Check-in
10:00 am: Welcome & Keynote
10:45 am: Advanced Materials Pitches
12:00 pm: Networking Lunch
1:00 pm: Food Waste Solutions Pitches
2:15 pm: Break
2:30 pm: Recycling Processing Innovation Pitches
3:45 pm: Networking Reception
4:15 pm: Award Ceremony & Closing Remarks
JUDGES
Thank you to our expert judges! They will judge team pitches based on value proposition, business model and financials, investability. and how well each team presents its information and answers questions.
Nadia Abunasser, Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Prem Bodagala, Red Cedar Ventures
John Chalifoux, Association for Sustainable Manufacturing MERA
Aaron Hiday, Michigan EGLE
Ray Hugel, Closed Loop Partners
Jessica Lodging, Schupan
Allan Newman, Recycle Ann Arbor
Divya Patil, NSF
Paul Riser, Ralph Wilson Foundation
Dan Schoonmaker, West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
Lindsey Walker, Emmet County Recycling
Renee Wallace, Doers Consulting/FoodPLUS Detroit/ReMark
REGISTRATION
Registration is FREE. This event has a limited number of in-person seating. Follow the link to complete your registration selection on the Eventbrite webpage.
SPONSORs
Thank you to our generous sponsors! The following organizations are supporting this event and helping to accelerate projects that will strengthen Michigan’s circular economy. If your organization is interested in sponsoring the NextCycle Michigan Team Showcase, download the Sponsorship Prospectus for more information.
