Agilent Technologies is expanding in Delaware with a $7M investment

Editor’s note: This story first appeared as a newsletter alongside a roundup of Technical.ly’s best Delaware reporting from the week, job openings and more. Subscribe here to get updates on Delaware tech, business and innovation news in your inbox on Thursdays.

It’s been a challenging week. And month. And couple of years.

As we head into Memorial Day weekend — a somber holiday that now also marks the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd — we want to focus on some of the good things that are happening in Delaware. That includes today’s release of the 2022 Delaware RealLIST Connectors: Check out our latest roundup of inspiring local innovators.

But we also want to acknowledge that right now is a hard time. In February, I wrote “5 things that will make you a better manager in challenging times,” and the advice, taken from experts across the mid-Atlantic, still holds (and doesn’t only apply to managers). Another reshare that continues to be relevant is “You’re outraged — and that makes you vulnerable online.” Always remember that cybercriminals prey on emotions.

NAMI Delaware has also been honoring Mental Health Awareness Month this May with its YouTube series “You Are Not Alone,” featuring stories from members of the community, including Scott Day, executive director of UnLocke The Light.

There is good news here in Delaware. (That is, unless you were hoping the recreational marijuana bill would pass. Gov. Carney vetoed it this week.)

What else happened in Delaware this week?

Agilent Technologies, a global analytical instrumentation development and manufacturing company, is expanding and upgrading its Little Falls office and lab campus, with plans to invest $7 million in the project. Agilent is already one of the state’s biggest private sector employers.

“Agilent has a long and successful history in the State of Delaware, and this investment in our laboratories will enable world-class R&D for the fast-growing biopharma market, while expanding and supporting our Delaware-based team,” said John Gavenonis, VP and general manager of Agilent’s Chemistries and Supplies Division, in a press release. “Delaware is the right place for this R&D investment.”

Agilent has been located in Delaware for 20 years and employs more than 800 workers at Little Falls and at its manufacturing facility in Newport.

Also of note in the business world: What’s a solar farm? The new cash crop in Sussex County, says The Cape Gazette.

Delaware events and happenings

• This summer, the State of Delaware launches its first-ever Governor’s Summer Fellowship for Delaware high school students, providing paid camp counselor opportunities at community-based summer camps in each county plus networking with state leaders and elected officials. Fellows will also receive academic credit for their participation in the program.
• If you are a veteran, you may be interested in the Small Business Association’s quarterly Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development and its Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs meetings, to be held June 1 and 2. Presentations will be available after both meetings at www.sba.gov/ovbd under the “Federal Advisory Committees” section.
• For the first time, the Emerging Enterprise Center will participate in the City of Wilmington Art Loop on June 3. It will feature one of its newest incubator residents, the Bridge Art Gallery, as well as the exhibition BryteLighters, featuring cross-medium collaborations with Alcohol Ink Artist Bryant Small.
• June 3 will also kick off the “Award Winners” exhibit of the work of Delaware’s Individual Delaware Division of the Arts Artist Fellows at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover. It will run through July 23.

Power Moves

• Bill Provine, CEO and president of the Delaware Innovation Space, had been appointed to the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The council will develop a National Entrepreneurship Strategy that, in its own words, “strengthens America’s ability to compete and win as the world’s leading startup nation and as the world’s leading innovator in critical emerging technologies.”