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Washington, D.C. – Congressman Pete Visclosky today announced that the House Appropriations Committee approved $250,000 for Valparaiso’s Entech Innovation Center. The funding, which will go toward cutting-edge labs that foster high tech businesses, is included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.
“By building the infrastructure that fosters innovation and attracts high tech workers to Northwest Indiana we are taking a major step toward diversifying our economy,” said Visclosky. “These improvements to the Entech Innovation Center will help local entrepreneurs perform the cutting edge research and development that will create new businesses, new products, new jobs, and new opportunities for Northwest Indiana’s residents.”
“I appreciate that Congressman Visclosky works hard to fund vital projects for Northwest Indiana, especially job-creation and infrastructure projects,” said Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas. “In Valparaiso we are working to foster innovation and attract high-wage, high-tech jobs through the Entech Innovation Center. The Congressman is a vital partner in that effort and a leader in similar efforts to create jobs and build a new economy across the region.”
The Entech Innovation Center, which was established in 2008, is a business incubation and acceleration program dedicated to recruiting and attracting new technology related business ventures to the region. Specifically, the funds will be used to facilitate and equip wet labs to accommodate the recruitment and commercialization of start-up companies and corporate expansions in the medical diagnostics and medical instrumentation industries. The investment will allow the Center to provide top quality facilities and business services in an expanding industry, bringing much-needed high tech jobs to Northwest Indiana. The Center has partnered with Valparaiso University, Purdue North Central, Ivy Tech Community College, and the Valparaiso Economic Development Corporation on the initiative and anticipates that it will support 78 new jobs over two years, plus additional job growth in the future.
The medical diagnostics and medical instrumentation industries project double digit growth rates nationwide and produce substantially higher salaries and wages than the region currently experiences. The National Center for Medical Diagnostics and Biological Sciences has identified Indiana as one of the top three markets for the early adoption and commercialization for medical diagnostics, and Northwest Indiana as the top zone in the state thanks to its proximity to Chicago, transportation infrastructure, and abundance of third party insurers and independent hospitals.
The Fiscal Year 2010 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill is scheduled for consideration on the floor of the House of Representatives on July 17. Subsequent to House passage it must be approved by the Senate before it can be signed into law by the President. |
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