Vermont Incubator Programs
Intervale Community Food Enterprise
On September 30th, 1998 the City of Burlington was awarded a $1,020,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA for the construction of a business incubator and bio-shelter greenhouse called, at the time, the Riverside Eco-Industrial Park. The early concept included a 1-acre campus with windmills, a microbrewery, and greenhouses heated by waste heat from the McNeil Generating Plant. The plans have since been scaled back and the focus narrowed to food entrepreneurship.
According to a summary from the City of Burlington dated January 2002, the program will provide a state-of-the-art facility built to meet the unique needs of local farmers, producers, community supported agriculture, and gardening. The proposed facility will feature organic food growing/processing/fulfillment, a community kitchen, environmental research, and education in approximately 20,000 square feet of greenhouse space. Initially, services to client companies will be provided on a contract basis by the Vermont Food Venture Center.
Bennington County Industrial Corporation
Incubator Programs
The Bennington County Industrial Corporation (BCIC) operates the BCIC Business Incubator in North Bennington, adjacent to Bennington College. The number of tenants has ranged from 15 to 30. Besides affordable space, BCIC offers tenants support services such as T-1 connection, conferencing and office equipment access, on site permit assistance, and Small Business Development Center business counseling. The incubator has graduated such technology firms as T & M Enterprises (injection plastic molded small parts), Northern Lights Cable (now Krone Optical Systems - fiber optic cable), and Abacus Automation (custom robotic industrial machines). The Bennington Incubator was nationally recognized as a Model of Excellence by SBA in 2000. BCIC has been in recent discussions with three research universities about a possible collaborative incubator project to be sited in Southwestern Vermont and focused on a particular advanced technology theme.
Marlboro College Technology Center, Brattleboro
The Marlboro Technology Center is a five story, 60,000 square foot commercial office building established in October 2000, with $4 million in private foundation support and $500,000 federal grant. The incubator facility offers a fitness center and a "technology rich" environment with access to Marlboro College's programs, graduates and alumni. Director Marie Basescu stated that the incubator does not provide typical incubator services. There are currently 3-4 incubator tenants occupying a small portion of one floor. The remainder of the building is used for training, and college offices. Marie Besescu stated that there is at least 10,000 square feet of lease space available for new clients. She was interested in the possibility of partnering with the technology incubator initiative.
Digital Bridges, Middlebury College, Middlebury
The Middlebury Solutions Group, an academic program of the college, provides assistance to early stage start-up companies from concept to implementation. While the program does not provide space, it does provide service such as providing a referral resource to the Vermont investment community. Dr. Michael Claudon and Elizabeth Hackett Robinson, Director of Programs, both expressed a strong interest in cooperation between their program and the proposed technology incubator initiative.
Food Venture Center, Fairfax
The Food Venture Center provides resources for entrepreneurs to start or expand specialty foods that can be used on an hourly or per piece basis. The program offers assistance in labeling, recipe development and coordination with the University of Vermont Food Science program. There is one anchor tenant and 30-35 food related businesses using the kitchen for R & D, and a broad range of production needs. There is no graduation requirement at this time, but this virtual incubator does offer management assistance to its clients.
Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship,
(NECFE) Burlington
Started as a joint venture between Cornell University's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY and the University of Vermont in 2001, the $3.8 million program is designed to nurture small food processing ventures into viable, freestanding businesses. The center offers technical and marketing expertise but no physical space for business incubation. This program occupies space in the renovated Carrigan Hall in Burlington and has become a clearinghouse for information on food product entrepreneurship. There are several technology commercialization opportunities from the University of Vermont being pursued at the NECFE center at this time. Both Dr. Catherine Donnelly, Program Director, and Dr. Rachel Johnson, Dean of the College of Agriculture, have expressed a strong interest in linking this program with the proposed technology incubator.
What is unique about VTC's Incubator?
Vermont Business Resource Center and Technology
Incubator
This project by the Town of Randolph, Vermont Technical College, and the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation, is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Agency (EDA), the Vermont Community Development Block Grant Program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Vermont Business Resource Center and Technology Incubator will feature 20,000 square feet of office space when renovated. Unlike Vermont's other real estate oriented incubators, this facility does intend to provide management support services, and will offer counseling from both the Small Business Development Center, and the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center. The planned launch date in January 2004.
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