| Greenville
wood composites incubator receives funding
Piscataquis County Economic Development Council
February 25, 2003
Maine's
Congressional Delegation announced good news for
Piscataquis County's efforts to construct a business
incubator facility in Greenville. On Friday, the Senate
passed the last 2003 spending bill containing $225,000
for the Greenville facility. According to the authorizing
legislation, the business incubator will house and
support businesses seeking to commercialize wood composite
materials. It's expected that most of the products
produced by entrepreneurs at the incubator will be
developed first at the University of Maine's Advanced
Engineered Wood Composites Center.
This
was music to the ears of Greenville Town Manager
John Simko who expressed confidence that the federal
funding will greatly enhance the chances of the incubator
building being constructed. "Everyone has worked
hard to start this job-creating facility and our Congressional
delegation deserves a lot of praise for supporting
our efforts. We are very pleased at the development."
Simko added that the facility will be constructed
on the
town-owned Spruce Street lot.
Nationally,
business incubators are on the rise. Many economic
development groups as well as public entities
have created them in order to provide low cost support
services for new business growth. Statistics show that
most businesses fail during the first three years of
existence and that a business incubator can help them
during periods of tight cash flow and slower sales.
The Greenville incubator facility will focus on the
needs of entrepreneurs who wish to manufacture wood
composite products. It is anticipated that many of
these entrepreneurs will remain within Piscataquis
County once they leave or "graduate" from
the incubator.
The Greenville incubator will be part of a larger
system of incubators statewide. This system was created
by the Legislature in 2000 in order to encourage business
growth in new and emerging industry sectors. According
to the State, the composites sector shows promising
opportunities for job creation in Maine.
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