Maryland Innovation Center’s BRITE Program earns national recognition Leave a comment
The Columbia-based Maryland Innovation Center’s Business Revitalization Initiative Through Entrepreneurship (BRITE) Program was honored with a 2023 NACo Achievement Award in the Community and Economic Development category, recognizing its significant contributions to empowering entrepreneurs.
The award from the National Association of Counties (NACo), the foremost organization representing county-level government operations, highlights the BRITE program’s success in creating direct pathways for entrepreneurs to achieve their goals. NACo’s prestigious annual awards honor innovative and transformative programs that provide new services for county residents, improve existing programs, upgrade working conditions, and enhance citizen participation and public policymaking.
BRITE expedites the path to commercial success for early-stage startups and established businesses in Howard County, Maryland. Managed by the MIC, powered by the Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA), the program offers a comprehensive suite of resources that enable businesses to scale at the opportune moment.
These resources include professional skills development, partnership building, business acceleration, counseling, and expert guidance. BRITE also emphasizes inclusivity, welcoming women, veterans, minorities, LGBTQIA+, small disadvantaged, and historically underutilized businesses to leverage the program’s benefits.
Since its inception in 2021, BRITE has served 760 students and attendees, awarded $40,000 in pitch contest prizes and influenced 70% of minority- and women-owned businesses in Howard County.
Launching this fall, BRITE will be taking over Howard County’s “HoCo Higher” entrepreneur accelerator program, a 10-week boot camp that teaches early-stage and historically under-served entrepreneurs the essentials of business planning, operations, credit building, digital communication and financial management.
The MIC is a subsidiary of the Howard County Economic Development Authority dedicated to developing a community of innovation in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The MIC is an incubator and accelerator home to more than 60 resident and affiliate startups and small businesses across diverse industry sectors. The MIC provides an ecosystem of support to new and existing entrepreneurs through mentorship, partnerships and programming. MIC resources support economic growth and prosperity while powering progress for its members.
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