The Great Plains Hub celebrated its second year in 2024, marked by exponential growth and significant milestones. The Hub expanded the number of cohorts offered compared to its inaugural year and hosted its first National I-Corps Program. Additionally, the Hub welcomed the University of Montana as a new partner institution, and connected with three potential institutional partners, with formal partnerships anticipated in 2025. Three teams applied to the Nationals I-Corps training, with two successfully completing the program this year.
Continuous improvement has been a cornerstone of the Hub’s success. Feedback from evaluations and surveys has been instrumental in refining offerings and guiding instructors. The Hub also adopted a customer discovery approach to broaden participation among Native American communities and colleges, reflecting its commitment to inclusivity and diversity.

Impact stories
Capturing Wasted Heat for Energy Savings / RJ Energy Solutions
CEO & Founder: Russell Schell
Russell Schell exemplifies the transformative potential of the I-Corps program. Initially, Russell approached the I-Corps operations team with an innovative idea to capture wasted heat but lacked a team to support him. Bella Peterson, an undergraduate student from the University of North Dakota quickly integrated into the project and participated in the Great Plains I-Corps Hub’s regional training.
Following the program, Bella graduated and joined Russell’s team to further the initiative. Together, they conducted over 150 interviews with potential customers, leading to a pivotal shift in applicable industry focus. Currently, the team is collaborating with senior design engineering students from the University of North Dakota to advance their prototype, aiming to optimize energy savings in new environments.
Wyonics
CEO & Co-Founder: Kristin Di Bona
In the world of startups, Wyonics is making waves with its focus on sustainability and innovative technology. Though founded in 2018 in Laramie, Wyoming, they’ve continued developing new technologies. Recently, they’ve developed a unique instrument for manipulating micro and nanoparticles. This technology can make a big difference in many fields by allowing precise handling and analysis of tiny particles. With this project, the Wyonics team decided to participate in the Great Plains I-Corps Hub’s regional cohort.
Through the I-Corps program, they recognized the importance of speaking with a wide range of potential customers to understand their needs. In forensics, precision and accuracy in particle manipulation are critical. In other sectors, handling large volumes of particles quickly is more important, even if it means sacrificing some accuracy. This understanding allowed Wyonics to focus its efforts while reducing costs. The insights from the I-Corps program helped Wyonics prepare to participate in the Department of Energy’s Phase Shift II program. This initiative focuses on making Wyonics economically sustainable by refining its business model, cash flow strategies, and manufacturing plans. In total, the Wyonics team consists of 9 employees and 2 interns.
Kirkwall
CEO & Co-Founder: William Cromarty
Kirkwall is a computer and network security startup that participated in the Great Plains I-Corps Hub’s inaugural cohort. Through the program, Kirkwall’s founders, William Cromarty and Ujjwal Adhikari, made a significant pivot, narrowing in on their target market, specifically in relation to the defense of AgTech and BioTech. After the I-Corps program, they relocated from Fargo, ND, to Sioux Falls, SD, where they won the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development Giant Vision competition as the #1 startup in the state. Since their founding, they’ve continued to grow and hired two more full-time employees and eight interns. Kirkwall has partnered with USRA Inc. to support DARPA efforts to secure critical infrastructure across the AgTech sector and UND’s Center for Cyber Security to defend America’s electrical substation infrastructure. As they’ve received additional funding from South Dakota Biotech, they’ve been able to advance their monitoring and alerting software. Through these advancements, they’ve been able to help save their laboratory clients from the loss of over $1 million of critical cancer research samples.