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The Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, Inc. was formed in December 1999 as a private-public partnership between the City of Ft. Wayne, IPFW, the County of Allen, the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, and local community stakeholders who were and are committed to growing a more vibrant regional economy. The Innovation Center nurtures technology businesses by developing the venture during start-up, early development, and the growth stages. NIIC's Certified Technology Park, a 55 acre innovation campus, provides new ventures a turnkey package of physical facilities, amenities, and services all bundled together in one affordable program fee/investment. NIIC Launch Pad is an iCARE investment vehicle designed to attract unemployed and underemployed engineers, technologist and post high school students and their ideas to NIIP with a combination of investment and business incubation. For promising new ventures NIIC, subject to underwriting and LEAP program compliance, will provide the following: 1) Idea Stage: Up to $10,000 of capital investment for development of a prototype including shared workspace for up to 6 months in the Launch Pad suite at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center; 2) Pre-Launch Stage: Up to an additional $15,000 of investment after the first 6 months to continue product development, marketing and commercialization planning efforts based on success and milestone completion of idea stage; 3) Venture Launch Stage: Up to an additional $25,000 of direct investment by accessing a LEAP investment for acquisition of key resources; protection of IP; and other start-up expenses. Ventures must be located in the incubator facility to be eligible for this special assistance and ventures must attract at least a $100,000 total commitment in angel, gap, grant, or friends and families capital. The firm has helped to launch 467 new products and facilitated over $91.0 million in research grants and capital investments for innovators.
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