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Next Generation Innovation Center What & Why
In the NGIC, you will be able to conceptualize, design, develop, fabricate and test virtually anything. If you are an artist, engineer, tinkerer, inventor, student or own a business, the NGIC has the tools to make your craft exceptional.
By borrowing Steve Jobs’ Pixar Animation studio notion of putting creative people together and “forcing” them to talk/share, the NGIC is an idea to build a resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The benefit is access to high-quality equipment and a place to open small businesses with little set-up costs; thereby, minimizing risks.
By giving start-ups the opportunity to run their own “business,” with a safety net, it makes them more bankable when it comes to expanding and working with lenders.
The cross-pollination of job trades allows for the exchange of ideas; improving collaboration, adding experience, creativity and insight. At the same time, the NGIC is a mechanism to build social networks for entrepreneurs and mentors through caffeine and happy hours.
Our goal is to capture creativity and develop new products in the digital revolution that could evolve into local small businesses, i.e. job creators. Missouri Western State University, Benedictine, Northwest Missouri State University, Hillyards Technical Center
and other area schools would serve as active partners as well as a conduit for incubator tenants.
For example, a local school has a bright student with tremendous potential. This person has great ideas, but lacks the resources to explore their plans. The NGIC may be the solution to maintain our youth, keep businesses in the region and grow the local tax base.
A feasibility study has been completed. Using data, demographics and community involvement, the study shows the NGIC can be successful.
816-233-3144 www.mo-kan.org
Next Generation Innovation Center
816-233-3144 www.mo-kan.org