"We're hopeful to have the steel up and the roof on the building before Thanksgiving, and the building complete and ready for occupancy by January 1, 2005", said John Simko, Greenville’s town manager, of the construction underway in the town’s industrial park.

Simko spent two days last week with Gordon Davis, who was recently named executive director of the Composite Technology Centers (CTC) Corporation, a non-profit group formed to administer the composite technology programs in Greenville as well as Sanford, where the incubator is almost at full capacity.

Davis, a veteran of business and economic development who most recently worked for the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, will guide the CTC in recruiting and retaining new businesses. The former electrical engineer moved to Maine to retire only to reinvolve himself in a number of statewide development activities. He boasts a solid understanding of the growing composites industry, and said the region is ready to take advantage of the new technology. “I think Greenville is well-situated to capitalize on (composites),” he said Thursday at a meeting of the Moosehead Development Council. The 10,000 square foot building will be owned by the town and operated by the CTC Corporation. It will offer manufacturing- and technology- based businesses modern industrial space and business assistance at below-market rates, providing entrepreneurs with the tools needed to survive the first few years when start-ups often struggle to find their footing. Davis is optimistic about the project’s chance for success, though he stressed there remained a long road ahead.

“With a well-planned and coherent program, you can really develop small business,” he told the MDC. “This sort of thing is quite laudable. (Greenville has) come a long way, but it does take time.”

Davis has a long history with incubator programs, having help initiate one in Connecticut years ago, before the term “incubator” was used. He said people around the project need to understand the benefits of such a program, and need to make those benefits known to potential tenants. “It is far more than putting up a building,” he said.

The CTC board, which will guide the business attraction, includes representatives from Piscataquis County, the Sanford area and the University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Woods Composites Center, where many of the technologies that will see commercialization at the incubators are born. Simko was recently named the board’s president, and Scott Hersey, general manager of Greenville Steam, and Mark Scarano, executive director of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, represent the Greenville area on the board.

"The researchers and administrators at the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered Woods Composites (AEWC) Center, the State of Maine's Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD), and our partners in Sanford have been and will be instrumental in the development and the success of the Greenville Business Incubator,” Simko said.

Hersey said he feels Greenville will be able to draw entrepreneurs from a pool of people who love the natural beauty and recreation opportunities available in the Moosehead Lake region.

“There is a significant number that really want to be here,” he said.

“So I think we have a springboard to go off from.”

In order to provide information to new businesses, particularly those in the composites field, on how to best grow and expand, the Greenville Business Incubator will host a series of forums called the “Lunch & Lecture” series. Over the next few months, experts will come to Greenville to share their knowledge and build support and energy for the incubator.

The first forum will be held Friday, Oct. 22 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Moosehead Marine Museum Map Room. Representatives from Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC), an umbrella group that administers a number of development programs, will be on hand to discuss how their resources can help businesses grow.

The series is based on similar events that have been successful at the Target Incubator in Orono, which, like CTC, is part of the state’s Advanced Technology Development Centers (ATDC) program.

“The response they had down there has been enormous,” said Jonathan Pratt, executive director of the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce.

Those interested in obtaining more information on the “Lunch & Lecture” series should contact Cindy Hanscom at the Greenville Town Office at 695-2421 or Cindy@GreenvilleME.com. For more information on the Greenville Incubator, contact John Simko at 695-2261.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Moosehead Messenger and is used here with permission."