The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Summit brought together many factions of the diverse state economy to discuss ways to increase jobs and economic development. A topic as broad as the state economy can have no single answer, but many parties left the summit feeling encouraged about the future direction of entrepreneurship in the state.

“What is encouraging is a lot of attention is being put towards the effort,” said Troy Knauss, a partner at Guardant Partners. Guardant is an angel fund, a private equity firm that invests in entrepreneur’s ideas. “Only good things can happen.”

The event, held Sept. 19 and 20 at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, featured 27 speakers from throughout the state. The diverse group included varied interests, from Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo to Billy Ray Hall, president of N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

Knauss said there is value in sitting down with entrepreneurs and representatives of various state agencies, including Lynn Douthett of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and officials with the N.C. Innovation Fund.

“We need to be more creative to find that capital because a lot of money has moved to safer investments,” Knauss said. “We need to figure out a way for private investors to get with the SBA.”

Marine Science Professor Daniel Baden from University of North Carolina Wilmington also spoke at the conference. Baden explained the prospects of future development and new ideas in the marine sciences arena, describing the area as having “billions of dollars of potential.”

Baden, who was attending the symposium for the second year, said he enjoyed the discussions as a chance to keep ideas fresh. “It was an interesting day,” Baden said. “It was an opportunity for networking and to integrate more into the business community.”

“Ultimately there were no solutions offered,” Knauss said. “But a lot of ideas were generated.”