| The center will be designed to foster fledgling
businesses. |
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Funding
garnered
for tech incubator
A small-business technology "incuba-
tor," which will be affiliated with UM,
will sprout soon on the shores of the Clark Fork River in Missoula. U.S. Sen. Max
Baucus helped secure a $1.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to
purchase land for the incubator. Once built, the Montana Technology Enterprise Center will
be a joint project of UM, the UM Foundation and the Missoula Area Economic Development
Corp.
The center will be designed to foster fledgling businesses -- especially those
companies spawned by UM research -- and give technology companies an opportunity to
prosper in Montana's growing high-tech sector. The incubator will include offices,
conference rooms, storage rooms and labs. If planned expansions are implemented, the
incubator could eventually house up to 40 businesses.
The recent EDA grant will help UM complete a project called NorCor -- the Northern
Rockies Research Park and Technology Corridor. Once complete, NorCor will stretch from
Whitefish to Hamilton through the Flathead, Mission and Bitterroot valleys. Economic
development officials already are planning satellite incubators in several NorCor
communities.
Baucus also helped secure $1 million from Congress for the project last year. The total
cost of NorCor is estimated to be more than $4 million.
The EDA grant is offered through the agency's Public Works and Development Facilities
Grant Program, which is designed to assist distressed communities in attracting new
industry, encouraging business expansion, diversifying the local economy and generating
long-term, private-sector jobs.
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