New advancements are on the horizon for one of Alabama’s oldest industries, thanks to an accelerator program housed at the Wiregrass Innovation Center.
DOTHAN, Ala. - New advancements are on the horizon for one of Alabama’s oldest industries, thanks to an accelerator program housed at the Wiregrass Innovation Center. Alabama’s $36 billion forestry industry has evolved over the years, but finding solutions to the current problems it faces is essential.
That is where the startup accelerator company “gener8tor” and Grow Southeast Alabama come in. “What we’re looking to do with the Alabama Forestry Accelerator is find companies that are tackling those industry issues and give them an injection of how they can grow their business, find the right customer base, and be used to the state when it comes to our output and ultimately to the world,” said Justise Black, program manager for gener8tor’s forestry accelerator program. The Alabama Forestry Accelerator has a cohort of five visionaries who have developed products and technologies that will help advance the industry. The innovations range from technology to curb wildfires to repurposing pecan shells. Auburn University Professor Dr. Symone Alexander has developed Shellulose, a startup that gives pecan shells — plentiful across the Southeast — a new life. “I started thinking about how we have so many resources that are wasted, and I wanted to see how we could, rather than putting them in a landfill, use them to design new materials as a feedstock for processes,” Dr. Alexander said. “That ultimately led to this startup that I’m doing with gener8tor, where we’re taking pecan shells and rather than having to use plastics and things like that in our cosmetics and our food products, instead we can use naturally derived fibers from pecans.” Over the next few weeks, Dr. Alexander and others will work closely with industry leaders and investors to fine-tune their product and eventually expand into the industry. “I’m hoping to have a product on a shelf by the end of this year. That is my personal goal,” Dr. Alexander said. “To start to reach out to those food, cosmetics, even agricultural, for like pet feed, people so that we can start to introduce this alternative into the market and try to reduce the plastics that we’re being exposed to and the environment is being exposed to.” Black said the program wants to focus on Alabama-based companies, but the accelerator is willing to consider anything that will have an economic impact on the state. Black said the potential is limitless as the program brings talent from across the state to Dothan, helping the city establish itself as a hub for innovation. “How do we bring both the world to the Wiregrass and the Wiregrass to the world?” Black said. “Yes, we have an industry focus on forestry, but ultimately, what we’re doing by starting with an accelerator like this is creating an ecosystem that includes Dothan, an entrepreneurial ecosystem that comes right through our city and becomes a destination rather than a pass-through.”Download the WTVY News4 app to get alerts and stories the moment they are published. Available for FREE in the
Alabama's Forestry Industry Alabama Forestry Dr. Symone Alexander Justise Black Gener8tor Grow Southeast Alabama Auburn Professor Alabama Forestry Accelerator
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