ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
is called Launch Fishers. Te National
Business Incubation Association
has more than 1,900 members from
60 countries.
One key aspect of physical
infrastructure that attracts incubator
tenants is high-speed Internet.
Having a physical location to call
home is often secondary to having a
strong Internet backbone. Responses
to a U.S. Economic Development
Administration survey of incubator
tenants (Table 1) illustrate this.
Of all the services an incubator
needs to provide for client success,
broadband or high-speed Internet
is No. 1. Tat is staggering because
providing Internet access is not the
traditional justifcation for building
or servicing an incubator. In fact,
by asking users what they want, a
community may discover many other
broadband needs and services that are
valuable to gazelle companies.
96
In closing, what does economic
development mean in your community?
Is it time to revision? If so, how highcapacity, high-speed broadband fts in
that discussion could be very important.
Listen to your users – gazelle employers
in particular, not just the vocal Chamber
of Commerce members – and see how
and what type of capacity they desire. v
Ken Demlow is a sales representative for
Beehive Industries, and Tom Chapman
is vice president of Beehive. Beehive
Industries provides asset, infrastructure
and event management software
that ofers fexible tools for economic
development and utilities, including fber
and telecom. Reach Ken at kdemlow@
beehiveindustries.com.
RESOURCES
•
•
•
•
•
The Kaufman Foundation, "Where Will the Jobs Come From?"
(see especially p. 4): www.kaufman.org/what-we-do/research/
frm-formation-and-growth-series/where-will-the-jobs-come-from
The Edward Lowe Foundation, Economic Gardening Program:
http://edwardlowe.org/tools-programs/economic-gardening
Center for Strategic Change: www.centerforstrategicchange.com
Launch Fishers: http://launchfshers.com
National Business Incubation Association: www.nbia.org
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