This month,
Lake Superior State University officially opened its business accelerator building. It was good timing; they held the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open its doors to coincide with a visit from state Governor Rick Snyder, who helped cut the aforementioned ribbon.
The business accelerator is part of the Sault Ste. Marie SmartZone, and provides services to help entrepreneurs form new businesses or create new products.
Its facility includes space that allows would-be business owners to learn about and choose manufacturing and business methods that best suit their ideas, and even has the equipment and partnerships available to create initial production runs of test products.
Afterward, a fledgling business might move on to the Sault EDC's industrial incubator, which continues to house and nurture new businesses as they become established.
The Sault's
SmartZone is one of two in the U.P. and first began operation in 2008; the other is also linked to a university, at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. The centers are designed to help build collaboration between educators, students, companies, researchers and governments, in order to strengthen the economy and create technology and research-based jobs.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Lake Superior State University
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