Back to news

CAN BE Business Incubator Attracts First Tenant
Aero Solutions LLC expanding operations from Colorado to Greater Hazleton;
company upgrades and maintains cellular towers.

April 18, 2005
Hazleton Standard-Speaker
By Jim Dino

A high-tech company that specializes in upgrading and maintaining cellular phone towers has become the first tenant of the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center in Valmont Industrial Park.

The Innovation Center is the first project undertaken by CAN BE, the Community Association for New Business Entrepreneurship, which was launched by local economic development corporation CAN DO, Inc. with continuing support from nearby Penn State Hazleton.

CAN BE Executive Director Joseph Barrett said Aero Solutions LLC, a relatively new company that has chosen to expand its operations from Boulder, Colo., into the northeastern market has leased the first available office space in the Innovation Center.

“CAN BE welcomes Aero Solutions to our Innovation Center. This company is a perfect fit, offering a high-tech product that requires state-of-the-art engineering,” Barrett said.

CAN BE Board Chairman Matt Bayzick said this first tenant shows that the Innovation Center concept is a solid one that will work in Hazleton.

“Whether it is a small company looking to expand to our area like Aero Solutions, a spin off from another company, or an entrepreneur with only an idea, the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center offers the support and resources needed for success,” Bayzick said.

Brian Reese, Aero Solutions' vice president of operations, said Hazleton will be the company's new operations office.

“I could have relocated to Colorado , but I live in Drums with m wife and three children, so I really wanted to keep my family here. After searching throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, I couldn't find anything that really suited our new company, but then I called CAN DO and they told me about the Innovation Center,” Reese said.

“The Innovation Center solved many of our problems, and allows I me to concentrate on growing the business instead of worrying about buying furniture, office equipment, computers... all of those little things you need, but which normally end up costing thousands and thousands of dollars,” Reese said.

“The attractive lease rate also means I will be able to maximize our cash flow and keep our money directed at growing the business,” Reese said.

This year, Reese hopes to hire an engineer, sales engineer and a field technician, with other staff coming next year.

“The new business incubator offers a full complement of services through the Innovation Center and its partners,” Bayzick said. “This team approach shows that we are serious about helping nurture new businesses that have great potential."

Penn State Hazleton is CAN DO's primary partner in the Innovation Center project, and CAN BE is also working closely with Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the other 13 regional universities that comprise the Northeast Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities (NEPACU). Other resources include governmental agencies, the Northeast Pennsylvania Technology Institute (formerly Great Valley Technology Institute) and angel investor networks that make investments in new business ventures.

The regional transfer of technology from the universities to business and industry is one of the primary goals of the Northeast PennsyIvania Technology Institute. In 2004, Gov. Ed Rendell launched the Keystone Innovation Zone Program (KIZ) and approved the Scranton-WiIkes-Barre-Hazleton region as one of only six KIZs in the state. This program provides funding to the universities to assist in the technology transfer and will offer tax credits as an incentive for new companies that locate within a KIZ. The business innovation center is located in one of the KIZs.

Also, Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) has located an office right in the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center. PENNTAP helps businesses and industry improve their competitiveness by providing free scientific and technological assistance and information.

W. Kevin O'Donnell, CAN DO's president, said the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center is another in a series of regional efforts being taken to strengthen Northeastern Pennsylvania. Incubators have also been opened in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Pottsville, Carbondale and East Stroudsburg.

“Four out of five new businesses fail within the first five years according to the National Business Incubation Association. However, four out of five new businesses started in a business incubator succeed in that same time frame. We want to play our part in helping new businesses like Aero Solutions to get off the ground,” O'Donnell said.

Construction of the new business incubator was provided partially through a grant from Luzerne County.

Information about Innovation Center program criteria and guidelines has been published on CAN BE's World Wide Web site at www.canbe.biz. Funding to develop the Web site was provided by PPL Electric Utilities through a Blue Ribbon Marketing Grant.