Incubator opens for business
Seven small enterprises plan to move into technology center in Dunkirk
Published: December 22, 2009, 12:30 am
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DUNKIRK — Perhaps the next Intel will get its start at the new technology business incubator that opened Monday, sponsored by area economic programs and Fredonia State College.
That high hope was mentioned at the opening of the building on Central Avenue. It can house up to 31 new businesses, each of them receiving start-up help from nearby Fredonia State College.
The environmentally friendly building is near the Dunkirk waterfront, which has seen several new developments, including a boardwalk shopping area and a new high-end apartment complex. Both have opened in the 200 block of Central Avenue, within a block of the incubator.
Construction of the incubator cost $4.87 million and was funded through a variety of state and federal appropriations.
Ground was broken about a year ago at the former site of vacant buildings. Chautauqua County Executive Gregory Edwards said the county has pledged $125,000 to help the start-up businesses that want to move into the incubator.
Seven small businesses plan to move into the new building this week. They are Cell Text Data Systems, mARTe, Fredonia State College’s Shale Institute, Van Buren Bay Cosmetics, Zenhire, Social Entrepreneurship and Fredonia State-Niagara University Collaboration.
Incubator director Robert H. Fritzinger called entrepreneurial enterprises “the new frontier.”
“All the energy and enthusiasm will converge, and this will relieve some of the risk” of starting a business, he said.
He said the building is “state of the art” and has been reviewed by nationally recognized incubator experts.
“The next Intel could be right here in Chautauqua County,” he said.
The incubator idea has already been at work within the Fredonia State system. Jon and Mike Brennan started Noobis Inc., a company that develops social media products for Internet use, and got its start in the temporary incubator site on Central Avenue near City Hall.
The new incubator will not only provide low-cost rent, but services to businesses through student interns and professors who will use the ideas and concepts as part of the academic curriculum at Fredonia State.
Fredonia State College President Dennis Hefner said businesses started in an incubator site have about an 80 percent chance of survival after five years. On the other hand, he said, the rate of survival for new businesses that start up on their own is only about 20 percent after five years.
Dunkirk Mayor Richard Frey gave special recognition to former Director of Development Maclaine Nichols Berhaupt and Councilman Kevin Muldowney, both instrumental in coordinating the project.
fin@buffnews.com
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