Bridging the Innovation Gap New incubator projected to be regional asset BY STEVE BORNHOFT
About the time that Ron Miller started work at Innovation Park, Kristin Dozier, then the chairman of the Leon County Commission, had undertaken an assessment of the Tallahassee area’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. An important component was missing, she concluded. In an ecosystem in nature, higher-order species need to be nurtured. They don’t enter upon the world ready to fend for themselves. Business behaves in much the same way. The absence, then, of a nurturing incubator was a significant gap. The county proceeded to expedite the creation of Domi Station, a collaborative space designed to equip and support entrepreneurs in launching and scaling their enterprises. 24
| 2021 Tallahassee Innovation & Technology
Domi Station would and continues to be helpful in consequential ways to early stage startups, in particular, and also growing concerns. “But it didn’t solve all of the problems,” said Miller, the executive director at Innovation Park, which promotes the Tallahassee region’s research and development assets and supports the recruitment, launching and growth of private companies. “We did our own feasibility study for an incubator that
These are all going to be resources that you will be unable to find anywhere else in the region. We are here to support the entire region.” — Ron Miller, executive director of the Leon County Research and Development Authority at Innovation Park
