A $2.3 million federal grant, in conjunction with other funding, will help launch construction of the 25,000 square foot, high-tech business incubator in the Tuscarawas Regional Technology Park. Groundbreaking is expected in the summer of 2011.

The incubator, to be named the Eugene Tolloty Technology Center Incubator, will be a premier facility with office, conference, and scientific laboratory space for companies involved in research and development and a network operating center with OC-192 broadband capacity.

Eugene Tolloty was a long-time CIC member and area businessman who was a champion for the development of the Tech Park. "Through the close relationship with Kent State University at Tuscarawas, just across the street from the Tech Park, the CIC will be attracting science, engineering, information technology, and energy industry companies to the business incubator," said Gary Little, executive director of the CIC. "We expect these start-up and early stage companies to grow and mature in the incubator until they need their own office and research facilities within the Tech Park which has nearly 170 acres of available land," continued Little. The master plan for the Tech Park is to have 20 to 25 structures in a campus, cluster configuration that will capitalize upon the natural, wooded, and rolling hills setting. It is estimated that nearly 600 people could be working within the Tech Park when completely developed.

The incubator will be designed to meet LEED Certification standards for energy efficiency. The building will also be designed to accommodate future expansion for another 10,000 square feet of office space.

We expect the incubator to be a magnet for high tech start-up companies, to act as a training ground for Kent Tuscarawas science and engineering students, to be an entrepreneur's field of dreams, and also a conduit for companies to move from the incubator into locations/facilities they will own within the Tech Park, said Little.

The grant was awarded to The Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) of Tuscarawas County, owners and developers of the Tuscarawas Regional Technology Park, along with the Tuscarawas County University Branch District, doing business as Kent State University at Tuscarawas.

Kent State University is also a partner in the project whose total development cost will be 5.4 million dollars. Kent State University at Tuscarawas will own the building on land granted by the CIC of Tuscarawas County to Kent Tuscarawas, and the CIC will manage the facility after construction is completed. Other funding will be provided by the Ohio Department of Development, the Governor's Office of Appalachia and the Appalachian Regional Commission, the CIC, and Kent State University at Tuscarawas.

For more information on the Technology Park, contact Gary Little at 330-308-7524 or 330-691-0878. Send email inquiries to garylittle@tusccic.com.