Incubator

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The Orange Innovation Center is an emerging business incubator, which means while many other aspects are in place there is no pool of ready investment dollars. We are working towards that goal while nurturing our tenants' growth in every way feasible.

Business Incubators are engines for robust economic revitalization; they create new products, fresh jobs, and augmented services for the community. They provide fledgling companies an encouraging environment for growth. The most promising outfits may be invited into a second tier of opportunity, a rich network of business resources, including: venture capital, legal assistance such as licensing and intellectual property, state and federal contacts, grant sources, and marketing know-how.

As businesses become self-sufficient enough to move out of the Incubator and contribute to the economic growth of the region, other early-stage enterprises take their place. Graduates are encouraged to continue drawing upon the mentoring/consulting/networking resources of the incubator management and tenant community.

Today at OIC each tenant organization can:
1. access extensive in-house and out-of house resources.
2. expect some support in developing business plans.
3. follow-up on opportunities to exhibit at conferences and working capital showcases.

OIC is set in the bucolic surroundings of the North Quabbin region, while only thirty minutes from the
five-campus area which encompasses: the University of Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Amherst
and Hampshire colleges.

OIC's renovations of it's historic structure are expressly designed to convert the building into a mixed-use incubator, rather than many incubators that are simply housed in empty schools and unimproved vacant buildings.