Youngstown, Ohio, Business Incubator to Get State Funds

Jul. 13–COLUMBUS — The Youngstown Business Incubator will receive $225,000 in state funds for the fiscal year that ends June 30, the State Controlling Board decided Monday.

The business incubator, located on West Federal Street in downtown Youngstown, will use the funds to provide business assistance and product innovation and commercialization services with the funds, the state said.

The incubator focuses almost exclusively on “business to business” software application development companies, according to state records. The focus has allowed the incubator to create and maintain the “most resource-rich environment in the Cleveland to Pittsburgh corridor,” state development officials say.

Jim Cossler, incubator director, said the incubator has nine software companies with about 160 jobs.

Cossler noted the companies serve 4,000 customers throughout the United States and 32 countries around the world. Funding is provided to allow promising new companies to eliminate or defer as much of their operational startup expenses as possible, the state said.

The incubator also relies on individuals, universities and the private sector who have agreed to provide technical expertise to business incubator companies, the state said.

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