Technology Incubator Hatches the Future

Gordon, again, Amazon has the "deep pockets" to drive R&D and technology transfer into the marketplace. Last night, here in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, I went for my usual evening walk; in a vacant store was a man working at a desk on a computer. Of course, his presence and the desk and computer by definition meant the store was no longer vacant. I could not resist. I knocked and he let me enter. We had a fascinating visit. He is part of a new technology startup company. It sname is OneEvenTechnologies, and what it actually does and how it does it is still top secret. He would not tell me. One reason is the startup is searching for startup funding; they do not want somebody with lots of money to steal their idea, product design. You must sign confidentiality, non-compete, non-disclose agreements to even talk about what they propose to do. The fun part was he and I agreed that the vacant store, two stories, which once held three large businesses on the first store, with some planning could become, yes, right here, a technology startup business incubator! Your humble servant here pointed this out; the possibility really excited him! It excites this writer too! he has long advocated a small business incubator in our town; so far, he has gotten nowhere with it. As Futurist Richard Florida points out in his class The Rise of the Creative Class, for new ideas, products, services to emerge you must hatch them in an "intelligent environment." Here was a step toward creating this kind of "intelligent environment." As you can tell, this really really excites your humble servant here. The discovery of this new high-tech startup offset the gloom and doom of the recent drug deal murder in the street two blocks from where this writer lives and is writing this. Sadly, the media do not celebrate startups. Bad news sells.