The Collider, an Asheville-based hub for climate science startups, intends to further galvanize western North Carolina’s innovation ecosystem with a new series of short seminars outlining the most essential business development topics.

Held on a biweekly basis, the lunch and learns cover subject matter relevant to any early-stage entrepreneur—from pitching investors or partners, to navigating employment law, to designing a PR strategy.

The new programming is part of a larger blueprint to extend The Collider’s influence to more startups and projects beyond Asheville and throughout Western North Carolina as it continues to grow.

Josh Dorfman, who left Venture Asheville leadership to become CEO of The Collider earlier this year, wrote in an email newsletter last week that The Collider’s new programs are “harnessing Asheville’s world-class assets in climate science and climate data to foster companies and solutions that help the world prepare, adapt, and become resilient as the impacts of climate change intensify.”

The Collider Marketing Manager Leah Quintal further commented that the series’ speakers are “capable of responding to and supporting the most ambitious startup projects.”

So far, the community response has been engaging both in and outside of The Collider.

“We’re getting good member participation and starting to see more people from the larger Asheville community,” Quintal added. “We’re also getting good feedback that we’re incorporating into our process moving forward.”

She added that The Collider plans for the lunch and learn series to be ongoing throughout the rest of the year.

An outline of upcoming events is listed below. Stay tuned as more details are announced here. You can register for individual events on The Collider’s Eventbrite page.