On Tuesday, 17 April 2018, our committee had it's second meeting proceeding the unveiling of the Action Plan. Previously, our group began discussing the impacts of a small pool of loanable funds that would be available to businesses to help with funding gaps. We looked further into this idea, specifically at a model from Danville, VA. The next steps proposed by the group outlined a few stipulations for receiving this funds. The company must be a part of a program of some sort to receive funding (Technology Incubator). By being a part of a credible program we're hoping to alleviate some of the perceived risk with helping these companies. Similar to a "de-risk" grant from SC Launch. It was also proposed that we have some kind of supplemental funding for provisional patents in hopes to attract more tech companies, as well as offering micro-loans which we defined as being less than $10,000 in order to give people a better chance to start their business and to create more minority owned businesses.
Next, the group discussed the future of the Technology Incubator. Attendees asked about what the future of the Incubator looks like and what directions it needs to be taking to continue fostering startups in Knowledge Park. One of the notions is to turn the Incubator into a one-stop-shop for all things entrepreneurial and economic development. There was also a huge concern for who will be the successor of the Technology Incubator since it is a one man operation currently. If David Warner is no longer in the picture, who will be able to continue the success of the Incubator?