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Harrisonburg goes high tech
by
Heather B. Hayes
Virginia Business
March 2005
What
started as a student research project at James Madison
University to revitalize Harrisonburg’s downtown
may end up cultivating a new kind of economy for the
region. The idea? Create a rural downtown technology
zone. Impressed, city officials recently set aside $2
million and rezoned two downtown blocks for the initiative
— known as the Harrisonburg Downtown Technology
Zone (HDTZ) — which will include information technology
companies, support businesses, condominiums, restaurants
and museums, as well as a 22,000-square-foot innovation
center.
The
Harrisonburg Innovation Center, the first project approved
within the new zone, will be located in a former department
store and is now being renovated for a January 2006
opening. Officials are actively recruiting what they
hope will be eight to 15 tenants. All must be semi-mature
to mature firms that, initially, specialize in Radio
Frequency Identification and data warehousing technologies.
“We are putting together a highly innovative networking
environment where everyone works together in a synergistic
way for common success,” explains Jim Barnes,
Harrisonburg’s assistant economic development
director for technology. “So initially, we will
try to get a cluster of companies working in a different
phase of those two technologies, so that we can utilize
the expertise across them and better position ourselves
for grants and contracts, either from the federal government
or large companies.”
Eventually, as tenants move out into the zone and other
parts of Harrisonburg, the center will focus on bringing
in new companies that specialize in other technologies,
including informatics, homeland security and defense,
virtual technologies and Web development. The companies
themselves will have to apply and pass muster based
on their likelihood of success and how well they mesh
with other center or zone tenants.
In return, Barnes says, entrepreneurs will gain several
benefits: inclusion in HDTZ marketing efforts, access
to information on contracts and grants, a cutting-edge
infrastructure, business assistance resources and onsite
help with budget and forecasting strategies and finding
new investors. Tenants will also have an open door to
JMU faculty and student interns.
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