Gilbert Family Foundation Invests $800K in Lawrence Tech’s Centrepolis in Southfield
Posted By: DBUSINESS on June 23, 2025. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
The Detroit-based Gilbert Family Foundation has invested $800,000 in the Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield to launch the Idea to Product program, designed to support “hardtech” entrepreneurs in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park.
Hardtech involves building physical products that often combine hardware and software to solve real-world challenges in industries like manufacturing, consumer products, mobility, and energy.
Unlike software, hardtech products require significant value engineering and upfront investment, making it more complex and costlier to develop. As a result, entrepreneurs need greater support, outside engineering talent, more capital, and longer timelines to succeed.
The Centrepolis Accelerator addresses these development challenges by providing entrepreneurs with the resources they need to overcome these barriers, including a product development methodology based on design-for-manufacturability disciplines as well as providing business and engineering experts that serve as extensions of the hardtech business to ensure their success.
The program aims to:
- Support early stage hardtech entrepreneurs from underserved communities.
- Accelerate the development of socially and environmentally impactful products.
- Deliver comprehensive technical and business support services.
- Attract and align additional funding to scale long-term impact.
The investment is said to reflect the Gilbert Family Foundation’s commitment to fostering economic mobility and innovation in Detroit. By investing in the city’s hardtech ecosystem, the foundation is helping to build pathways to sustainable job creation and small business growth.
“For more than 100 years, Detroit has been leading the nation in manufacturing and innovation,” says Laura Grannemann, executive director of Gilbert Family Foundation. “This grant empowers local entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into tangible products that create jobs and address real-world challenges.”
According to Centrepolis Accelerator officials, Detroit’s manufacturing sector is growing and analysts project more than 24,000 new jobs by 2028 as hardware and mobility firms expand. To support this growth, the Centrepolis Hardtech Accelerator @ LTU aims to provide entrepreneurs with mentors, workshops, advanced technologies, student-faculty collaboration, events, workspaces, and a supportive peer community.
“This funding allows us to take our mission to the next level by focusing on underrepresented innovators with breakthrough hardtech solutions,” says Dan Radomski, CEO of the Centrepolis Accelerator @ LTU. “Too many accelerator programs out there only get an entrepreneur so far and they find themselves needing additional help to recognize their dreams of commercializing their product.
“With the support of Gilbert Family Foundation, we can expand our reach and help more entrepreneurs navigate the journey from idea to commercial reality, to actually experience getting their product to market and creating wealth for them and their families, and to get these products made right here in Detroit supporting the local economy.”
Applications for participants are open until July 17. Company selections are expected to be announced by July 25 with the program set to begin on Aug. 5.
« Back to Insights