The Southern Windsor County Incubator, Inc.

The Southern Windsor County Incubator (SWCI) will launch the Springfield Entrepreneurship Center as part of its new Innovation Campus in Springfield, VT. The goal of the Innovation Campus is to attract new residents and opportunities to the rural community of Springfield to reverse post-industrial economic decline and population drain. By leveraging the town’s unique strengths - including a new 10 gigabit high-speed fiber network, underutilized buildings, and proximity to Dartmouth College – the integrated Innovation Campus offers a variety of programming and opportunities to build a new digital economy ecosystem.

The new Entrepreneurship Center project will provide residential programming to startup teams recruited to Springfield, as well as continuing education programming for community members. The residential program will provide one year of free live/work space, mentorship from industry experts within SWCI partnership networks, and connections to capital for up to 10 startup teams working in the digital economy (including virtual reality, big data protein development, blockchain cryptography, and others). The Entrepreneurship Center will also develop and socialize programming for individuals and teams learning and working in other parts of the Innovation Campus with the goal of building a pipeline for new business creation by community members.

Within three years, SWCI is aiming to recruit 12 teams for its residential program and provide entrepreneurship programming, mentorship, and education to over 60 community members and district students. As a result, SWCI anticipates that 2 startup teams will launch in Springfield, and 2 technology companies will co-locate with the Innovation Campus and bring new economy jobs to Springfield, enabling additional service job opportunities to support the launched startups and relocated tech companies.