By Susan Motander
MADIA Tech Launch, Inc., works to promote high-tech businesses in the cities of Monrovia, Arcadia, Duarte, Irwindale, Azusa and the surrounding areas. It is a non-profit corporation that provides support to the growing number of technical, scientific and industrial businesses in the area. The non-profit calls itself a “career, company and industry incubator.”
Its mission statement sums up the group simply: “To ensure the region’s technical, scientific, and industrial workforce is connected and has the tools they need to be successful, MADIA provides educational programs in entrepreneurship, business finance and operations, and technology development and commercialization in settings which encourage networking and collaboration among members.”
How the group does this is the intriguing part. They meet twice a month: once in the evening, once in the morning. The “Second Tuesday Meet-up” is the evening event. This month on April 14th the group will gather at Ranchero Mexican Restaurant at 1501 Huntington Drive, Duarte, at 6:30 p.m. “The primary purpose of these gatherings is to bring together the group’s members, entrepreneurs and entrepreneur-minded people for networking,” according to Bruce Lathrop, a spokesman for MADIA.
At this gathering there will also be a presentation by Karen Aboody, M.D., TheraBiologics’s Director, Founder, and Chief Scientific Officer who will discuss “Academics & Biotechnology Interface — How To Advance A New Technology.”
According to Lathrop, the group will also “discuss future MADIA events and building on the entrepreneurial ecosystem already at the heart of San Gabriel Valley.” He urged anyone interested in expanding the high-tech industry in the area to attend the event.
The group also meets at Mt. Sierra College at 7:30 a.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. These meetings also feature opportunities to network and to learn from expert speakers on “the nuts and bolts of running or starting a tech business.”
For information on future meetings, check the group’s website: www.madiatech.org.