The new business incubator-accelerator under construction in First Columbia”™s International Plaza business park in New Windsor hopes to grow prosperity in the region, giving entrepreneurs (and perhaps a few nutty professors) a place to perfect their ideas (or their Flubber) and enabling existing businesses room to work on research and development.
“Well, maybe not ”˜nutty,”™” said Michael DiTullo, former CEO of Pattern for Progress who also has 11 years with the Orange County Partnership, the county”™s economic development arm, as part of his pedigree. “But I imagine there are people out there working in large tech companies that have a great idea for a product but nowhere to take it. We want to be that place.”
DiTullo, who has been working as a consultant for The Solar Consortium for the past year, said, “I was intrigued with the idea of working with the region”™s intellectual talent to create jobs from within. When I learned the IDA was also researching the idea of starting a business incubator, I contacted our County Executive Ed Diana and we started talking.”
The Orange County Business Accelerator, says DiTullo, is only 45 minutes from Manhattan and 30 minutes from New Jersey, so he”™s already developed a tagline for it: “The intersection of capital and talent.”
DiTullo compared economic development to a three-legged stool: “Its first leg is attracting business; the second is expansion and retention of companies; and the third is tapping into our intellectual infrastructure, and there is a wealth of it here.”
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For companies or startups that succeed in making it into the incubator, they will be subsidized for a maximum of three years: “They will pay $12 a foot for everything: all services, including a client services specialist to work with and help them with their high-tech needs, arrange meetings and help them locate and work with patent attorneys,” said DiTullo.?Kelly Reilly, formerly with IBM, will serve as liaison. “She”™s worked with global companies, including Sony and Toshiba,” said DiTullo. “Kelly will be working directly with incubator entrepreneurs. We have a few prospects we are talking to right now. Our focus is on three industries: renewable energy, biomedical and health care. If there is a technician working at a big company with a great idea, bring me the idea.
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“We”™re letting entrepreneurial world know we want them and will treat them well,” he said. “They can come to Orange county for a chance to build their company and get rich. If they get rich, they create wealth and jobs and other people do well, too. If we guide them to success, the next step will be talking to the IDA about arranging funding for the companies to grow right here in Orange County. We”™ll manage their risk in the beginning and bring mentors to the table to meet their needs.”
One of several incubators DiTullo toured for ideas to see what”™s working and what isn”™t was on the campus of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. “It”™s called Ben Franklin TechVentures and was established in 1983. It started with 5,000 square feet; it”™s now 35,000 square fee and churned out 95 companies in that time period. It”™s a great model we plan to duplicate.”
The county is providing the $1.5 million through its Industrial Development Agency to create and develop the incubator, which has the capacity for up to 12 startups or companies already in business looking to expand. “We will have research and development capability, conference rooms, and the latest technology so people can interface in real time. Basically, we”™ll have everything needed to help them with the goal of growing business for Orange County and using the intellectual capacity that is so abundant here,” said DiTullo.
Jim Petro, chairman of Orange County IDA, said the county needs rateables, and “What better way to obtain them than by growing within our own county? We are looking at this to be a win-win for both the county and the business in the incubator.”
To contact Michael DiTullo, call 541-2888.
