DETROIT – Automation Alley members will soon have the opportunity to rent 5000 square feet of dedicated space at TechTown, the Wayne State University research and technology park – in a new partnership that could redefine what entrepreneurial supports groups can do in Michigan.

In exchange, Automation Alley will provide TechTown with what the technology networking group does best – economic development and access to local technology companies.

TechTown is a business incubator that now comprises 100,000 square feet of downtown Detroit office space, but could over the years quintuple in size to 500,000 square feet, making it by far the biggest business incubator in the country.

“Collaborating with TechTown is a fantastic opportunity for Automation Alley and a tremendous added benefit for our members,” Automation Alley Executive Director Ken Rogers said. “Its location in downtown Detroit, in addition to its affiliation with Wayne State University, offers entrepreneurs an excellent avenue to pursue their work. We’re excited to be working with TechTown as we continue to grow Southeast Michigan’s technology economy.”�

Rogers’ sentiments were echoed by TechTown Director Randal Charlton:

“They don’t have a business incubator. We do. Automation Alley is not interested in managing real estate and housing small companies. We are. They have a history of 20 years of auto economic development. They have a network and a membership, which is one of the biggest and best in Southeast Michigan. We’re just starting to develop this relationship.”�

Charlton said states that get themselves into economic stress have a similar recovery pattern. And in the case of Michigan, that would be the necessity of developing an economic resurgence in Detroit to serve as a catalyst to generate an economic resurgence in Michigan. He also said the soft landing site for overseas recruitment is not only a first for Michigan, but also for the nation.

“What Ken and I are engaged in is a test bed to show how two organizations can collaborate,”� Charlton said. “We’re offering Automation Alley a foot print in the center of Detroit, where the action is.”

Some of the first overseas recruits could come from China, Charlton said. Wayne State and TechTown are developing some close ties with Chinese incubators.

“A manufacturer in Beijing wants to come to the United States to set up a factory. How does Michigan give him the upper hand? He can come to TechTown and use a set of offices we have set up for overseas clients. We give them instant office service, translation services, access to lawyers, plug them into business agencies. We can offer them advice on hotels, real estate, even have Wayne State�??s engineering department develop prototypes. All of our clients also can partner with WSU on legal service, tech services, and tech transfer. We then hand them off to Automation Alley, who will have people stationed on site.”�

But the collaboration won’t necessarily be confined to Automation Alley, Charlton said. TechTown also hopes to work with Ann Arbor SPARK, with Southwest Michigan First in Kalamazoo, with The Right Place Program in Grand Rapids and other economic development groups around the state.

“What we’re doing in TechTown, because we are so large, is taking a different approach than others business incubators,”� he said. “Henry Ford Health Genomics is moving into 13,000 square foot. Asterand (Charlton’s former company, a human tissue bank) is a mature company. We plan to have 30 percent of our space filled by high quality tenants in high tech on long leases. The rest of the space is divided into cubicles for home companies.

“The long-term strategy for TechTown is modeled after a shopping mall. TechTown has landed several major anchor tenants and also has attracted mom and pop stores to give the place variety. It’s our version of economic development in downtown Detroit,”� Charlton said.

For more information click on TechTownWSU.Org

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