Topic: Miller College of Business

June 29, 2007

The Innovation Connector, a high-tech business incubator, is adding several thousand square feet of space for its operations in downtown Muncie as it relocates from its offices adjacent to Ball State University.

The five-year-old business incubator is moving into 9,000-square-feet of office space on the second floor at 125 N. Mulberry St., a building owned by Old National Bank. The Innovation Connector has been located in several remodeled residential houses near the Ball State campus.

The move should provide the incubator with more room for entrepreneurs to start their new firms while also allowing Ball State to construct North Hall, a new residence hall on Neely Avenue that will become home to 600 students when completed in 2010.

"Ball State has been pleased to participate in the development of the incubator and, now with the move to a new location, I see this as a positive step for economic and business development in the community," said Thomas Kinghorn, vice president for business affairs and treasurer.

The Innovation Connector is a partnership between Ball State, Cardinal Health System and the city of Muncie. Ball State renovated several former residences with the intent of routing faculty and staff with business ideas through the startup process. Several of the startups in the incubator are headed by Ball State faculty, students or alumni.

The university will continue to provide tenants with access to faculty members as well as professional and technology staff members who provide special expertise in terms of development of product prototypes, market research, financial management, accounting services, advisory board membership, and specialized processes and procedures assistance for licensing and technology transfer.

The incubator also provides assistance to information technology based companies both on-site and virtual clients. With the addition of nine businesses in 2006, there are more than 20 employees associated with the Innovation Connector.

For more information about developing a new business, contact the Innovation Connector at (765) 285-4900 or online to www.innovationconnector.com.

By Marc Ransford, Senior Communications Strategist