Wilson’s Gig EAST Summit showcases ‘ecosysteming’ for entrepreneurial growth

NC IDEA coined the term “ecosysteming” back in 2019 to describe the fostering of inclusive economic development via entrepreneurship.

In practice, ecosysteming brings together diverse groups and individuals with the willingness, knowledge, time and resources to help people realize their full entrepreneurial potential, thereby strengthening community and the economy. I wrote about this back in 2019, when Thom Ruhe, CEO of NC IDEA first presented the term.

Last Thursday, I was privileged to co-host the annual Gig EAST Summit in Wilson, North Carolina, along with my colleague Rachael Newberry.  The summit brings together a diverse mix of entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and technologists (i.e. EAST) to celebrate the advancement of Wilson’s economy and community. This year’s event was hosted at the Wilson Arts Center with a packed audience that attended from across Eastern NC and the Triangle.

A quick look at the agenda reflects just how mature the Wilson community has come in fostering the ecosysteming mindset. Chris Heivly opened the event with a discussion and audience Q&A about how to foster startup communities. Heivly accurately points out that every community should be focused on developing their startup culture. In today’s tech-driven economy, cities that are not growing new companies in place will fall behind those who are not investing in the future of business.

Seven early-stage startup companies spent the last three months working from Wilson’s downtown coworking facility, the Gig East Exchange. They had a chance to pitch their companies to the audience for a $1,000 prize:

• Elroi – A data marketplace empowering individuals to securely monetize and control their data while promoting digital equity and privacy
• Os Rostrum – cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning algorithms to analyze cow health.
• Praana Tech – Developing revolutionary low-cost medical imaging for early alzheimer’s detection
• Predicate – Uses natural language processing, AI and wearables for early sepsis detection
• SenterME – an emotional wellness platform to empower women professionals through cutting-edge wellness solutions. [WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE VOTE]
• SportScale – Improving athlete health and hydration with hardware and software on the practice field.
• Swabbot – Robotic solutions to Improve safety and productivity in bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing

These companies worked together through an intense accelerator program, helping each other to strengthen their products, validate their markets and scale their company operations. Each attendee was given “investor dollars” to vote on the companies they felt had the most compelling solution. SenterME took home the $1,000 cash prize.

What made the Summit really interesting was that it wasn’t just a traditional startup or tech conference. It wove together:

• The unexpected – two turtles, a lizard and a snake created an original painting;
• The inspiring – 10-year-old Liam Godwell played a heart-warming violin solo;
• Energetic fun – if you haven’t tried “laugh yoga” I highly recommend it;
• Community bonding – the full audience competed at Wilson trivia throughout the day
• Community support – the story of passion and persistence to open the Whirlidog Cafe that employs people with disabilities.

But more to the point – the event showcased examples of “ecosysteming”. Different organizations presented projects and initiatives that independently were each interesting, but collectively are extremely complementary. This year’s event theme was “Grow”, a nod to a lot of agriculture innovation projects that are ongoing, but also to the broader economic growth activity across the region.

Consider how these various projects and teams make a far greater impact together than independently.

• The Center on Rural Innovation discussed new workforce development initiatives
• Wilson Community College presented new curriculum and entrepreneurship focus
• The Eastern NC Food Commercialization Center has launched to help farmers pivot to higher margin crops.
• RIoT discussed a new Smart Agriculture Testbed that starts construction this month.
• The Angel Capital Association educated about local benefits of angel investing.

Each of these initiatives has a component aligned to the theme of supporting the agriculture sector. Entrepreneurs that are interested to pivot their existing business to “smart” technology, or to start a new company can find new talent, testing and experimentation facilities, commercialization support, educational curriculum and seed capital. All in the Wilson region. When we work with startups at RIoT, we advise founders to position their businesses in places that have a strong diversity of resources near at hand. Wilson checks those boxes.

These programs and partners benefit from years of forward-thinking from the government to provide ample infrastructure for the next wave of the economy. Gigabit Fiber to every home and business. The strongest water reserves in the state. Municipal coworking facilities. And soon a new baseball stadium coupled to major private real estate investment that is expected to transform downtown in a similar manner that the Durham Bulls Stadium and American Tobacco complex changed the trajectory of Durham.

If you haven’t been out to Wilson recently, it’s worth a trip. Cowork for the day from the Gig East Exchange (or host your next event there), tour the Whirligig park and go construction crane sightseeing around the city. There’s a lot of ecosysteming going on, and the community has open arms for additional partners.