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The Challenge

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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

Inspiration 894 inspirations

Concepting 329 concepts

Applause 329 final concepts

Refinement 20 final concepts

Evaluation 20 final concepts

Winning Concepts Announced!

Realisation Ongoing

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Winning concept
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Attracting Start Ups

Declining cities could attract start ups/SMEs and create local incubators by offering (really) cheap real estate, equity investment, and more...

An abandoned building transformed into an office space

Many declining cities already have a consequent amount of underutilized and cheap real estate. These places could be transformed into shared office space, in order to create centers of innovation (similar to the Hub in San Francisco -acknowledging that SF is already a vibrant city, or Haarlem, Netherlands), which can inspire in the longer run locals to be more entrepreneurial and create their own companies. During the inspiration phase, many contributions pointed out examples of using empty building (in Seattle, New York, London and Bilbao, as well as Detroit). In Seattle, the project is a program of the City of Seattle, funded through multiple city departments along with various neighborhood groups, business improvement associations, and merchants’ associations.

"Incentive package" for the start-ups

-- Cheap real estate: The city can give away free or very cheap buildings.

-- Furniture: Steelcase could provide tables, chairs and other setup for offices (Thanks Ken) and common work facilities (kitchen, TechShop type of place, etc.) (Thanks Craig).

-- Other amenities such as affordable housing (Thanks Josh).

-- Funding:

For example, of you locate for at least a year, the city will invest in your company
More investment would be allocated to start ups that hire local people (to help the city struggle less economically)
For non-profit partners, corporate sponsors could underwrite the utilities to get these workspaces up and running, literally "empowering" a cause and their brand (Thanks Catherine).

-- Talent:

We could think of having a partnership between the incubator and organizations like Venture for America to attract more talent.

-- Mixed use and cross-pollination:

Perhaps food and beverage (coffee!) entrepreneurs could be sought alongside start-ups? (Thanks Avi and Meena)
Having non-profits as well as start-ups (Thanks Iwona).
Creating a network connecting different incubators together (Thanks Jeroen).

-- Mentorship/training programs: These can tap into volunteer-based efforts (esp. university students giving pro-bono advice) (Thanks Sushmita and Adriana).

Advantages for the city / the sponsor

-- Tax revenue that the city wouldn't be getting if the offices / buildings sit vacant.

-- Shares in the companies: In exchange for free rent, you could issue the city some kind of convertible shares in the company. If the company ends up doing well (i.e., it's the next Apple, Google, etc.) then the city reaps the upside and if not, then the shares aren't worth anything and the city did its best to try and seed innovation (Thanks Rob).

-- Places like these act as ideal laboratories for studying the way people work and collaborate, similarly to Workspring, a project that was spun off from Steelcase (Thanks Melanie).

-- The biggest advantage of all: job creation. As Rob phrased it:

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Image source: Zfein.com

How can your idea be scaled so that it's implemented in cities around the world?

This idea could work in most struggling cities around the world. The more cities will try this, the more they can inspire other cities to do the same.

My Virtual Team

- Melanie: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/melaniek/ - Ken: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/kenendo/ - Josh: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/3108913/ - Meena: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/meanestindian/ - Avi: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/avisolo/ - Mike: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/mradke/ - Rob: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/robkatz/ - Iwona: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/voncs/ - Jeroen: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/jeroen/ - Sushmita: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/sushmita/ - Ciara: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/cgirl6/ - Vincent: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/vincent/ - Adriana: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/adrianavaldez/ - Dan: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/685311538/ - Sara: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/swilliamson/ - Juan: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/chompiropo/ - Craig: http://www.openideo.com/profiles/edelmac/ Thanks everyone!

What resources (money, time, people, technology, etc) will your concept need to be successful?

- A city's development fund / municipal money, city department budgets, associations, etc. - Local VCs - Empty buildings / offices - Start ups willing to relocate :)

Evaluation Results 55 people have evaluated this

How well does this concept restore vibrancy to cities and regions facing economic decline?

This concept will definitely restore vibrancy to struggling cities
This concept has potential to restore vibrancy to struggling cities
This concept will not restore vibrancy to struggling cities

How scalable is this concept across struggling cities and regions worldwide?

This concept could be scaled for impact across multiple locations
This concept will take a fair bit of work to build and scale
This concept is not particularly scalable

Does this concept require a lot of resources (time, money, people, etc) to achieve impact?

Not really – few resources would be needed to get results
Somewhat – significant resources would be needed to get results
Yes – considerable resources would be needed to get results

How easy would it be for our community to design an early prototype of this concept?

Easy – we could start prototyping this today
A bit tricky – but we could figure it out
Not at all easy – we'd need help from outside experts on this

Overall, how do you feel about this concept?

It rocked my world
I liked it but preferred others
It didn't get me overly excited

Comments

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Eddie Shiomi

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April 27, 2012, 03:34AM

Sarah, congratulations on your winning concept. I'd love to connect with you on how Venture for America could specifically support your exciting initiative. Our Venture Fellows land on August 1st in Detroit and are hungry to engage the community!

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Amanda Drescher

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December 06, 2011, 08:33PM

It would be neat if you could incorporate incentives for local entrepreneurs as well. Wisconsin has some interesting programs which might relate, see http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/core/wisconsin_business_incentives.html

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 06, 2011, 08:45PM

Great idea! Thanks for sharing this example Amanda. I'm really surprised how many different financing possibilities Wisconsin already has, but I also wonder what makes people want to stay and give a shot at starting their own business rather than leaving for "better" cities... Is creating the beginning of an "economic vibrancy" enough?

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Ken Endo's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Ken Endo

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December 07, 2011, 05:56AM

I like the idea!! Moreover, I believe Steelcase could provide tables, chairs and other setup for offices. looks great collaboration!!

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Melanie Kahl's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Melanie Kahl

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December 07, 2011, 06:21AM

Also, for companies like Steelcase (who have a great research arm, btw), these places act as ideal laboratories for studying the way people work and collaborate. They could prototype and test products especially for this market, giving them a viable reason to collaborate. In a way, it seems that Workspring (a project that was spun off from Steelcase - http://www.workspring.com/) was a laboratory. I'd love to see them take and expand upon the robustness of the Workspring environment and model it for social and entrepreneurial markets. (Disclosure: I planned a conference on design + learning and used Workspring as a venue)

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 08:39AM

Thanks Ken for the suggestion! I think you're absolutely spot on!
Melanie, great insights! Thanks so much for sharing this information. Would you say you were satisfied with the use of Workspring? I didn't know about it before and I'm having a look at their website: looks awesome!

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Melanie Kahl's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Melanie Kahl

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December 07, 2011, 02:08PM

As an event space, Workspring is solid in design and staffing. However, while going there is productive and experiential, I have always felt that its business model is rather limited and transactional. More people should have access to ideal working environments. Period. I'd love to see similar design and technology, but packaged in a way where context and mutual benefit are elevated and explored (Eg. A hublike space with an innovative b2b plan on one side, and a really fleshed out research and product development plan on the other). It is hard to find companies that are really challenging and rigorously explore super creative capital models. If you have been to Chicago and in the Merchandise Mart (a design/furniture mecca), you realize that furniture showrooms are located prime real estate and with the latest interior and product design. However, they sit empty most of the time when they could be incubating the next gen of start ups and social orgs. A huge example of untapped private-public(or entrepreneurial) partnerships.

While your proposal very rightly targets cheap or abandoned real estate, it is amazing how much prime real estate goes under utilized.

(Another interesting space to check out is Next Door - a project with State Farm that I just found out IDEO did. While it isn't what your are talking about, it does have a private company raising a dialogue about an issue - finances - not a product line and creating a learning/working space for that dialogue, and others to occur. I'd love to see how kernels of this project could be used in urban planning. http://chicagobrander.com/2011/08/02/first-look-inside-state-farm-next-door-an-environment-in-an-innovative-state/)

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Chitra Chandrashekhar's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Chitra Chandrashekhar

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April 24, 2012, 05:23PM

Hi Sarah, Congrats...in connection to all your incentives on urban rejuvenation and job creation...groups like the Designer Fund....http://designerfund.com/ could gladly fund start-ups who think ecologically rather than just business creation! Its a total win-win!

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Kalina Kheirolomoom

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March 05, 2012, 07:08PM

Another similar existing organization that does this is La Cocina in the Bay Area. You could look at their business model and see what works and what doesn't. Solid concept!

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Elizabeth Dunbar

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February 14, 2012, 02:49PM

A belated congrats on this solid concept! I thought I'd share that your concept is in realization phase in Georgia.

There was a story on Atlanta public radio about a commercial real estate company offering vacant properties and six months of free rent to local startups. The company thought successful startups would treat the property owner like an investor and be willing to negotiate future rent. The company was also eager to have startup employees support the restaurants and businesses surrounding their new offices, which could raise overall property value.

I heard this, smiled, and wondered if that company was inspired by this concept. Again, congrats!

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Braden Merrill

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February 03, 2012, 05:18PM

Well done. I think this community could build some momentum in a promising direction for a city in need of a spark. I further believe that it begs another design question, which is: ‘How do cities create this environment?’

Looking ahead, I see the following issues arising:

Financial – The city can’t pay its police force, how will it fund this new venture? (mentioned by others)
Community – How does the city identify and recruit qualified mentors then hold them accountable?
Advocacy – Who has ultimate responsibility for this program within the government and how is she incentivized?
Management – How are entrepreneurs selected, judged, and fired?
Politics – What assurances does an entrepreneur have that her funding won’t be killed by the next administration?

I am new to the community so please accept my apologies if this not the correct channel for the question but I am interested in how a city would proceed. Once again, good job.

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Emily Goligoski

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January 27, 2012, 03:56PM

I love that this idea would make it possible for projects to launch in safe, bright space. The neighborhood pride component also can't be denied (and it's fun to startups like one I just came across, http://blockboard.org, emphasize this in their work). Glad to see this concept support entrepreneurs.

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Melanie Kahl

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January 14, 2012, 07:13PM

The addition of the affordable housing is an interesting one. So, shout out to that. Love me some mixed use. :) I also might add that incubation places like this often act as training wheels, with the seasoned and successful teams moving to new spaces. The problem there, is that social and knowledge capital leaves with them. A few strategies that might help with the growth of these new businesses (excuse me if any of this echos those below!):

• Room (and rooms) to grow: Quite simply, if you have a large enough space/the potential to add more space/or adjacent spaces, you can provide secondary homes for business that are at a stage where they need more room, privacy, and branding. Being proactive about providing packages and incentives for companies that will out grow their training wheels can help keep them as neighbors.

• To that end, providing incentives and experiences for these later phase companies to come back for office hours, seminars, consultation is key. (People mentioned General Assembly which has a lot of those education components)

• Storefronts: A tough part about incubator space is that it is difficult for the general public to know they are there. Places like these need a "front door" to the community and some entrepreneurs need a storefront to get to their customers. Having an assortments of streetlevel spaces will help this idea more directly contribute to urban vibrancy. That sustainable clothing startup has a low-risk brick and mortar strategy, artists can split the risk on gallery space, entrepreneurs can pop-up before they shop up, and complementary food/social businesses can serve the growing vibrant community. (I can think of a next door type place moving in as well - http://chicagobrander.com/2011/08/02/first-look-inside-state-farm-next-door-an-environment-in-an-innovative-state/) I almost think of this diversified approach as a sandwich: bottom floor - public, retail, pop up/zip spaces, middle floors - main incubator spaces, small offices to grow into, top floors - residential and hoteling options)

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Adriana Valdez Young's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Adriana Valdez Young

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January 19, 2012, 08:11PM

Hi Melanie! I really love the Next Door example and wanted to post a link that works:) http://chicagobrander.com/2011/08/02/first-look-inside-state-farm-next-door-an-environment-in-an-innovative-state/

Also, your 'sandwich' concept for programming is helpful for imagining the gradient of public to private. It's important to have the right mix of tenants to activate the space at different times and to be inviting on the street level, while offering more privacy two or three floors up. So maybe it's also like a layer cake?

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James McBennett

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January 19, 2012, 09:41AM

Another link would be Startup Chile http://www.startupchile.org/ that has brought 105 teams to Chile giving them $40,000 to startup for the year. I know some guys from UK that went out.

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Catherine Muller

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January 10, 2012, 11:42PM

This concept has clearly fostered a good deal of generative discussion—way to plant a seed! I’ll echo how imperative the right kind of incubation, training and mentoring is for the success of start-ups. So many entrepreneurs/small businesses fail because they start with a good idea, but may not have the business acumen to grow an innovative, flexible enterprise, which is what it takes to survive. Broadening the ‘incentive package’ to include a robust entrepreneur support network, addressing not only funding, but legal, business plan and strategy, licensing, and marketing assistance would ensure greater longevity for the businesses you attract (and better ROI, both financially and in terms of the community).

Many of the examples listed (TechTown, startupbootcamp, GA) are a great testament to the growing need for startup and small businesses assistance and support. Austin also has an outstanding network of resources, both grassroots and corporate sponsored (a few of many examples include RISE Austin, Bootstrap Austin, FedEx + Me Program, and a number of VC and angel networks). The Austin example spins off in a number of different ways:

City $ vs. private funding: I agree as well with others’ comments about looking at financing from a range of sources, given that municipalities are equally cash-strapped, and can be viewed as less-than-ideal funders in an entrepreneur’s eyes. That being said, I also agree that city support and involvement is crucial, both in terms of licensing & permits, but also in hopefully side-stepping a range of governmental obstacles that can occur.

Diversity, both mixed-use and scale: the model might inject more dollars into the local economy more rapidly if there were a focus on attracting both startups and established businesses, across a range of service, tech, and social initiatives. Abandoned spaces can also mean diminished services, so attracting both is essential in creating lasting vibrancy. If the mentoring and resources were integrated into a collaborative system (perhaps in parallel with pro-bono student consulting or advising internships), the tradeoff would be that big business get community support by fostering small local business. (Building on Eric’s example of Steelcase-sponsored business training.) As long as they aren’t in direct competition, such a relationship between established and fledgling enterprises could be beneficially symbiotic.

Atmosphere: when you look at the successful vibrant cities mentioned, such as Berlin or Austin, these are places that generate a unique, local energy, which leads me to agree with other posts here that it’s extremely useful to focus also on placemaking & community in attracting vibrancy-building businesses—not just money makers, but contributors to the character and vitality of the area. In the same vein of fostering business, jobs and networking, idea-incubating conferences like the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) and Chicago Ideas Week (CIW), sponsored by private and civic funders, provide intensive platforms for knowledge sharing and community building that feeds right back into the local economy.

(sorry so long—too many great ideas to respond to...)

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Meena Kadri's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Meena Kadri

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January 10, 2012, 11:45PM

Long is brilliant with it's this constructive!

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rinelle villareal's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

rinelle villareal

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January 14, 2012, 12:30AM

"Broadening the ‘incentive package’ to include a robust entrepreneur support network, addressing not only funding, but legal, business plan and strategy, licensing, and marketing assistance would ensure greater longevity for the businesses you attract (and better ROI, both financially and in terms of the community)" This observation rings so true. Having done some work with assisting small businesses to expand - this is the number one request of all the entrepreneurs that we encountered. How to build or where to access a network like this.

A good example of a space development and management team that is addressing this head on is the new Design Network North Complex currently under construction here in the Gateshead and Newcastle area. A couple of co-workers and I were able to attend an open discussion session which involved the complex's management team.
They approached us as future visitors and potential users or renters of the space to see what types of activities, programs, and services could be added to help the new business's growth, networking and visibility.

The idea of workshop spaces available to learn new skills, communal break spaces which could act as a teaching space for lunch info-sessions (where businesses take turns telling everyone what they do so that within the growing business community each business can act as a marketer of their own networks) and even a featured business or service of the week were suggestions that were thrown in for consideration. These ideas could possibly also be great to apply in attracting interested entrepreneurs to use the spaces and focusing on potential longevity in its tenants.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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January 14, 2012, 10:36AM

Amazing thoughts, thanks Catherine and Rinelle!

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faheem gill

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January 13, 2012, 08:07PM

magic johnson is doing this in detroit. still early to know if it successful

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Mamta Gautam

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January 11, 2012, 10:49AM

Hey Sarah,great concept.have a look at Kaos Pilot (http://www.kaospilot.dk/.) While we agree its a win win situation for startups -the challenge here is -what kind of startups would like to shift to Detroit, would they cater to locals, or near by areas or would they be startups which need to do R&D and need huge spaces. For start ups to make profit -one of the most crucial factor is how near or close is their market while balancing the overheads. And what kind of strategy to attract startups -how will they get to know about the incentives -websites, newspapers, advertisement on telelvisions etc ?

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Craig Edelman

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December 13, 2011, 06:32PM

Hi there!

I like where you are going. Having space to work as an entrepreneur is key -- a space with support, encouragement, resources, networks, etc.

One thought is that of course, an entrepreneurial space is not much use without the entrepreneurs. Encouraging current entrepreneurs and introducing new entrepreneurs to interact with the environment will be essential. I think La Cocina (http://www.lacocinasf.org/) in San Francisco, does an amazing job at this -- opening the opportunity to start a food business to the community. They use a combination of community outreach, free events, lots of information nights, etc to encourage new (and low-income) food entrepreneurs, and renting out their kitchen space to encourage seasoned food entrepreneurs. I love the combination of experienced and inexperienced entrepreneurs in one space.

I would look towards them for inspiration as far as how a space can interact with a community -- and especially the low-income segment.

Thanks!

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:13PM

You are absolutely right, Craig. How would you envision the same experience but in a different industry (say tech, biomedical, or others?) that might require different infrastructures?

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:14PM

I'm thinking having some sort of a local TechShop (free or cheap), for example. For industries that require higher end infrastructures/technologies (medical labs), I'm guessing this might be more difficult...

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Craig Edelman's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Craig Edelman

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December 30, 2011, 07:11PM

Hey Sarah.

Yeah, I'm not sure it's going to work for industries with higher end infrastructure needs. But even seasoned fashion designers need a space with materials, machines, etc; food entrepreneurs need a kitchen; designers of any kind need whiteboard space :)

So I think there are certainly a number of industries where you could have a cross-pollination of more seasoned entrepreneurs that pay for use of the space, and help subsidize that class of new entrepreneurs coming into the space.

So a Techshop, DesignShop, FashionShop, ArtShop, FoodShop -- I could see working well.

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Eric Sforza's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Eric Sforza

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January 06, 2012, 02:22AM

There is a great community in NYC that is doing some very similar called General Assembly (https://generalassemb.ly/about). Basically it is a campus that houses some entrepreneurs, but also acts as a campus for founders and entrepreneurs to learn a variety of skills from basic accounting, to app design, coding, brand storytelling, and business modeling. Courses are open to the general public for a small fee (depending on the length/type of course). I've taken a few courses there already - all were great experiences and met a lot of interesting people.

Another good spin-off is to encourage something along the lines of Skill Share - a place where anyone can teach a course in something that they are passionate about and skilled in.

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Adriana Valdez Young's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Adriana Valdez Young

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January 08, 2012, 10:15AM

Nice example Eric! General Assembly seems outstanding.
For your skill share idea, I would also add Code Academy, where you can learn coding online for free, and also build friend networks to co-learn with. This seems like a core class to add to Craig's Techshop idea: http://www.codecademy.com/

And Trade School, where people bring items to barter in exchange for skills training - everything from business planning for artists to composting:
http://www.good.is/post/trade-school-will-barter-for-skills/

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Eric Sforza's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Eric Sforza

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January 08, 2012, 11:08PM

I like the idea of a code academy Adriana. We can extend that even further and make it a Web Academy, this way it can encompass anything that is web/tech (website setup, graphic design, coding, apps, game theory, etc...). Ultimately, I think having a one stop shop to gain the skills and tool for any type of startup is ideal. At the end of the day, most businesses have the same structures and problems. I do think there should be a small fee though, just because you get better buy-in and commitment when someone has something vested.

Steelcase can also teach courses on design, prototyping, and customer insights based off their ARC model. http://www.steelcase.com/en/services/applied-research-and-consulting/Pages/main.aspx

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Adriana Valdez Young's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Adriana Valdez Young

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January 10, 2012, 01:56PM

This is really exciting Eric! I love the idea of Steelcase sharing its expertise through design and business courses. Perhaps the workshops can be either in exchange for a fee, a barter, or a volunteer duty? Accessibility will be key.

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Craig Edelman's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Craig Edelman

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January 10, 2012, 07:55PM

I like where you're heading Eric and Adriana. FYI, a friend of mine is one of the co-founders of Trade School, so we can certainly connect to seek advice. And I really like the idea of Steelcase getting involved -- have some (benevolent) corporate backing/experience is great from an expertise standpoint, but also as a legitimizing agent for the project.

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Shaheen Hasan's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Shaheen Hasan

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January 10, 2012, 10:22PM

Excellent idea Sarah! I just wanted to build on what Craig said about entrepreneurs (and fleshing out the types of entrepreneurs: seasoned vs. early) and the role of such enterprises in creating multiplier effects within local communities. It is worth highlighting that aside from lacking the business and information technology skills to turn their great ideas and ambition into thriving businesses, many aspiring entrepreneurs (particularly low-income ones and low-skilled ones, incidentally the group most likely to start/own a small business) also lack access to financial capacity and credit. Access to credit, which typically has been difficult to acquire for many small business owners because of poor credit scores and amplified by the economic downturn, is seen as one of the biggest challenges in starting a business. In that vein, to facilitate backward and forward linkages between incubators, educational institutions, etc and to build a pipeline of potential entrepreneurs to generate job creation and contribute to local economic development, it may interesting to explore forging relationships/partnerships with CDFI’s, major banks and other social sector organizations that are involved in community finance for SMEs and that also provide technical assistance for nascent entrepreneurs. Just a thought!

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Mike Radke

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December 06, 2011, 08:47PM

I love the example of the HUB for two reasons:
- It is a co-working space as opposed to "office space", building a community, providing instant collaboration opportunities in cities where it might be difficult.
- It is socially oriented, I think it will be important to support a specific type of development (in this case social) rather than general business development in order to not only generate a sector of work but to build up the surrounding community simultaneously.

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Rob Katz's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Rob Katz

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December 07, 2011, 10:23AM

True that, Mike - all that said, one of the most socially beneficial things we can do is create jobs. People without jobs want the dignity of work as much as anything else...which is why Sarah's idea and the Hub as an example are so powerful.

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Craig Edelman's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Craig Edelman

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January 10, 2012, 08:09PM

I agree with the creating jobs piece completely. While start-ups certainly create jobs, with limited resources a start-up needs to hire as few people as possible. Rob, as a business model guru, any ideas on how we can make a start-up more pro-job? Certainly there are subsidies, but I don't think that is the answer here. Or there is encouraging the growth of start-ups that are more optimal for creating jobs (certain industries). Or there is encouraging start-ups to higher more people to do tasks or fill positions that might otherwise not be listed...though with maybe greater risk (and dollars). All of this might go against Lean Startup ideals. Just tossing some ideas around. Thoughts?

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Jeroen Spoelstra

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January 09, 2012, 09:08PM

Hello Sarah,

I think you could also give space to students. Maybe universities can promote entrepreneurship among students. Students active in the neighborhood generate vibrancy. http://www.gnr8.nl/gnr8-information is an example of how it could work.

Maybe you could hook up with http://www.openideo.com/open/vibrant-cities/concepting/engage-university-students-in-community-projects/

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Kara Pecknold

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January 09, 2012, 06:10AM

You have put a lot of work into this, Sarah! Looks fabulous!

Sorry to be late to the party and I'm not sure if this has been raised already but this idea also reminded me of Pratt's Design Incubator and how an educational institution is aligning itself with bringing vibrancy to people with business ideas. For what it is worth, I wonder what an educational institution could do with spaces like this (as far as funding/support)?

Video: http://vimeo.com/32992091
Website: http://incubator.pratt.edu/about.php

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Katsuyoshi Ueno's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Katsuyoshi Ueno

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January 09, 2012, 07:59AM

I agree with you, Kara. In my country a lot of incubators are run by private companies and/or local governments, but educational institutes can make them more sustainable and open. Their educational networks and publicity will be of continuous help.

Btw it is great to know about Pratt's Design Incubator. Thanks a lot!

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Korinna Thielen

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January 07, 2012, 12:39AM

Hi Sarah!
Why do you suggest painting over the walls in your visualisation?
I'd rather encourage people to share more of their ideas on the wall :-)
Have a look at University of the Neighbourhoods in Hamburg Wilhelmsburg! http://udn.hcu-hamburg.de/wordpress/?cat=17 (need to flip through the website to see some interior images)
The fact that the building is only part-finished is tremendously inspiring for the creative processes happening inside. It just feels more open and invites yet more ideas...

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Prita Hasjim

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January 06, 2012, 08:35AM

To add to the mentorship/training programs, could we perhaps mention internship programs? An internship is basically the same thing as a mentorship program, but it does give a lot of incentive to university students because it gives them experience and sometimes class credit or money. Plus, it's easy to implement an internship program in a startup company because everything is always so fresh and new AND there will always be students looking for opportunities like this so you can even consider this an incentive for the community!

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Adriana Quiñones

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January 06, 2012, 04:50AM

Hi Sarah!
I think this concept has so many opportunities, I'm thinking about the Pop-up business: Pop-up stores, Pop-up movie theaters, Pop-up restaurants.... that would bring vibrancy and dynamism to any city, on the other hand, relocation exercise serves to test a place and know the response to a type of business, perhaps the restaurant was better in "x" street or clothing store worked better in "y" street, and over time this can help to define the place that best suits a business.

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January 05, 2012, 08:57PM

Cheers on your Top 20 concept Sarah! As an advisory panel, we really liked your holistic and thorough description of the wraparound services this kind of idea would provide to startups. During Refinement, let's think about what this concept might learn from initiatives like Ponyride and other social business incubators, and how we might incorporate those lessons here.

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Meena Kadri's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Meena Kadri

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January 05, 2012, 10:57PM

Ponyride: http://vimeo.com/34518274

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Avi Solomon

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December 06, 2011, 07:08PM

Sarah, good coffee would be another major incentive:)

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 06, 2011, 07:33PM

Hah, good idea :)

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Meena Kadri's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Meena Kadri

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December 07, 2011, 05:11AM

Mixed use seems to make sense in terms of vibrancy – perhaps food and beverage entrepreneurs could be sought alongside start-ups?

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Mamta Gautam's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Mamta Gautam

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January 05, 2012, 01:59PM

yes mixed land is a fantastic way to ensure vibrancy and is very common in indian cities and towns.

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Cindy Terdiman

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January 04, 2012, 06:19PM

Hi Sarah. I think this is a great idea. And interestingly, I was talking to a coworker, who had an idea that is really in line with what you are thinking. The idea is to create a start up that pools local design talent for contract work for design agencies (or any business that uses contract designers.) With operating costs low, designers would be very competitive. Providing space, computers and other technical and design resources would be a real boost for local up and coming designers.

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Elizabeth Dunbar

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December 29, 2011, 06:18PM

This is a solid idea, Sarah, and it's great to see the updates included.

This NPR story reminded me of your concept: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/29/144074234/in-katrina-s-wake-new-orleans-enjoys-start-up-boom

I was particularly excited by the Idea Village mention (http://ideavillage.org/). Perhaps, as part of the incentive package, cities could sponsor a workshop (like Idea Village's IDEAinstitute) that addresses the critical components for successful start ups. This workshop could also highlight the relocation process & city offerings! Grooming start ups for success before they formally launch/relocate may help them stick... and grow.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 08:40PM

This is a very good idea Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing the links!

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Elmar Stroomer

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December 29, 2011, 02:43PM

Very interesting concept! Nice to include Steelcase and to use the word cross-pollination.

It might be interesting to look at Berlin. I believe it once was a very declining city (population is still some 70% of what it was some years back), but I think it is in the lift again.

Berlin is attractive for young (entrepreneurial) people because everything goes and the rents are still low. And there are many interesting start-ups coming from Berlin. There is a Dutch magazine (Bright.nl) that highlights a Berlin start-up every week.
Well, for convincing councils for organizing your program it might be an idea to present Berlins' 'track record'. To convince them that on the long term assisting entrepreneurs can be very profitable for the city and country.

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Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 01:30PM

Thanks everyone for your great builds and comments, I have updated the concept to include them in the original post!

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Jenny Jin

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December 07, 2011, 05:02PM

Hey Sarah,

I think the most important aspect of a Hub is to have a narrow focus. From my experience in Nairobi, the iHub space focuses only on tech entrepreneurship, which attracts the right support community of entrepreneurs, developers, companies, investors, teachers providing occasional training courses, and forums to discuss new trends in technology. check out www.ihub.co.ke.

From my travels across East Africa, I've noticed that young entrepreneurs are willing to move to a new location as long as they find a community that is supportive (most likely through offering a hub that provides networking opportunities, an easy place to work from, and the opportunities for collaborations on similar projects.)

I would really focus on getting the focus/mission of the hubs down, and the rest will follow. :)

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 07:06PM

Hi Jenny! Thanks for sharing your experience. How do you think the process of "selecting" a focus goes? I thought it was much more of an "organic" thing, the first start ups having certain similarities and driving others that are also similar to join...

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Jenny Jin's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Jenny Jin

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December 08, 2011, 07:32PM

I definitely agree with you that the focus of a "hub" usually comes about organically, when there's already a palpable sense of a relevant issue, or many people in the community who are passionate about an issue.

To reword my original statement, I'm an advocate of forming smaller thematic hubs instead of a general large pool to create closer-knit and more collaborative networks of entrepreneurs, and create services that specifically fit their needs.

This was true for Ashoka whose Fellows whose work spans across agricultural, education, human rights, health....Generally creating services such as workshops/resources/legal advice/social learning trips around different work sectors made them more vibrant and collaborative.

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Iwona Gwozdz's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Iwona Gwozdz

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December 09, 2011, 12:47AM

I think you girls are on to something. This reminds me of communities that are rallied around one industry. You see examples of this in Italy where you have a cluster of fashion companies or in China where you have towns all focused on manufacturing one good. I know large cities tend to be much more diverse, but this could be a starting point that could spark the revitalization of a city. You can have multiple businesses start-up all focusing on producing a specific good/service that intertwines with the other good/services others are producing. It'd be great if this were a self-sustaining, green industry.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:17PM

Thanks Jenny for clarifying. I get your point, it's definitely very interesting (and could potentially help in terms of cross-pollination!).

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Chris Sun

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December 09, 2011, 10:22PM

Hi Sarah,

Great idea! I think what could also make the city more attractive in attracting investment, start-ups, and companies is for the city, or actually the state, to make it easy and attractive for companies to incorporate (i.e. Delaware) and make it tax attractive relative to other states. They could further provide tax incentives if companies move to areas and cities in greater need of investment.

They could also allow VC’s to move in under very favorable tax scenarios but only if investments were made in companies or areas specified by the city or state. If funding moves there then there would be great incentive for companies to move there.

The city could also assist in attracting talent by setting up a program to link start-ups with talent from local or regional universities. It could be summer or part-time, year-long internships, depending on the distance from the university. Incentives could be provided to both the student and start-up for participating. For example, the student could gain course credit or tuition credit in addition to a possible salary. The start-up would have access to less expensive young talent, possible credits from the city, or other incentives granted by the university such as advantages in hiring (i.e. free access to career fairs, earlier access to graduating students) over other companies.

On the note of universities, universities may also spur start-ups and innovation by creating or offering more courses and programs on entrepreneurship. Like Stanford and Silicon Valley, there is an immense culture of entrepreneurship there where investors and entrepreneurs congregate. This could help build a little bit of that.

Also, since the city may not have the revenues to fund initiatives like these, it could also partner up with private investors to participate. For example, the city could set up a program where a VC, for example, will help fund initiatives such as tax credits and tax breaks or any other program the city incorporates to draw companies to this area. In return, the VC could generate a return on future tax revenues from such an area.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:16PM

Agreed! Thanks Chris.

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Ciara Byrne

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December 07, 2011, 03:41PM

This is essentially what happened in Berlin (now a "hot" startup city). Startups were attracted by the low cost of living and access to cheap office space, and then later by the fact that other startups were there. The whole atmosphere of the city was also a factor.

But this happened organically and I have doubhts about the success of more top-down, government-driven programs when it comes to establishing such hubs.

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Juan Pablo Carvallo's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Juan Pablo Carvallo

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December 22, 2011, 10:26PM

Hey all. After reading everyone's inspiring observations, your comment Ciara led me to think: what is the start-up priority list regarding their location? Considering well known cases such as Silicon Valley's, one would think that networking and co-locating VC's and entrepreneurs is a relevant aspect. At the same time, this may be relevant for some kind of start-ups, service and technology based ones for example. It's possible that others may be prioritizing space for their ventures. If so, does Sarah's concept predispose a certain type of start-up to locate in the city? What other things may these particular start-ups be looking for beside cheap real estate that should be provided to encourage them to locate here? IT infrastructure maybe? Transportation connectivity? Proximity with universities?

I don't have much experience in entrepreneurship, so it would be great if someone could provide some insights on what start-ups are looking for!

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Sara Williamson's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sara Williamson

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December 23, 2011, 01:24AM

Juan, as our non-profit has started four (4) small-businesses in our super small town with little support from city officials I would say that support from local government officials would be extremely helpful when starting a small business. That type of support offers potential business owners a sense of community involvement which is intoxicating when a small business is looking to locate in a particular area.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:11PM

Great discussion guys. I would tend to agree with Juan and Sarah (thanks for sharing your own experience btw), there's definitely something to think about in terms of "attractivity package" (cheap real estate, but also what else?). There must be example of hot start up cities that were born kind of organically, but I am not sure how much we can count on that when it comes to struggling cities, to me they wouldn't compete in the same league as "regular cities".

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Dan Parham

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December 23, 2011, 07:17PM

Angel investment tax credits, Be Nola Bound, and the Nola Startup Fund are some of the tactics that Louisiana and New Orleans have had success with.

- The tax credits are up to 35% (max $5m). For example, if an investor makes a $100k angel investment, s/he would receive a 35k tax credit from the State of LA. http://www.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/opportunities/incentives--programs/angel-investor-tax-credit.aspx

- Nola Startup Fund - http://www.neworleansstartupfund.org/

- Be Nola Bound - http://www.benolabound.com/

The results? Forbes reports on the entrepreneurial boom in Nola -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2011/11/17/after-katrina-an-entrepreneurial-boom-in-new-orleans/

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:08PM

Very interesting links Dan. Thanks so much for sharing these!

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Adriana Valdez Young

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December 24, 2011, 03:08AM

Hi Sarah - Seems like you hit a core component of city revitalization.

To build on what makes for a nourishing start-up climate, I would add MENTORS! Not only is it key to be around other people in the start-up phase, it's critical to have access to seasoned leaders who can coach you through rough moments and be living examples of what is possible. When I started a non-profit fresh out of college, I not only used the resources of my university facilities and professors, but I got in touch with alumni who could mentor me through the start-up growing pains. I would have felt isolated and overwhelmed without monthly check-in luches with my mentors.

You may want to consider how you can create a mixed incentive package of human resources, such as a mentorship program, along with concrete cost-saving benefits.

The Brown Entrepreneurship Program helped me survive: http://brownep.org/ This could be a template for how an institutional partner can build relationships with start-up firms that boost their chances of success and incentivize the new firms to stay for longer, and maybe grow into mentors themselves. More than a one-year benefit, this could tap into promoting a longer term life cycle of starting up, settling into the city and giving back.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:07PM

Absolutely Adriana! Mentors seems to be a recurrent suggestion here, definitely something to keep in mind. Thanks for sharing the Brown example!

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Vincent Cheng

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December 07, 2011, 03:03PM

Hi Sarah, thought you'd be interested in Detroit's TechTown.

It's a nonprofit established in 2000 in a partnership between Wayne State University, General Motors, & the Henry Ford Health System that, in their own words, "seeks to reignite Detroit’s entrepreneurial culture by providing incubation and acceleration resources including space for lease, coaching, mentoring, educational workshops and access to talent and capital." Some highlights paraphrased from their website:

* TechOne, it's 100K sq. ft. incubator, hosts 250 growing companies
* >5K people attended networking events in past year
* > 1.6K people enrolled in training
* NextEnergy, an alternative energy incubator founded to encourage commercialization of emerging energy technologies, opened $12 million research facility in TechTown
*Asterand, Tech Town's first tenant, has become an international, publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange and was voted the best performing share in 2008 by the Financial Times.

More info at: http://www.http://techtownwsu.org/

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Ciara Byrne's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Ciara Byrne

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December 07, 2011, 03:46PM

Commercial startup accelerators are also popping up all over Europe and startups move to the location for 3 months. See Startup Bootcamp. http://www.startupbootcamp.org/

So something which might work is an accelerator which offers better terms/mentors/network than rivals. You would need to figure out how to encourage the startups to stay there after the 3 months though. Some programs now offer an addition 3 months of co-working space and other initatives like road-trips to silicon valley.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 07:11PM

Hmmm... Interesting food for thought. Thanks Vincent and Ciara!
I was trying in this concept to limit the financial contribution of the city given that most struggling cities won't have that many funds flowing (unless there's a company or a foundation partnering with them). Offering start ups assets that are only sitting vacant is kind of a win-win situation, since it's providing the city with tax revenue in the middle term.
It is also the reason why I didn't want to have some kind of a mentorship/coaching program, as these would require a much higher initial investment from the City, and even so, would only last for a few months (after which start ups might be tempted to leave).
So how to make these companies stay longer, without having to spend more in the initial steps? (City investment could come at a later stage once they've had some return -taxes, employment, etc.). Should we condition mentoring/coaching for example to the fact that a start up should stay at least, say, a year? What happens next?

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sushmita meka's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

sushmita meka

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December 08, 2011, 01:36AM

Keeping in mind the limited resources of struggling cities, I wonder if you could create partnerships with university students to provide guidance to startups that need help with their financials or legal issues. Harvard has a law and entrepreneurship project (http://www.hlep.org/) through which law students work with attorneys to provide legal guidance -- it not only provides the startups with pro bono advice but gives students a valuable opportunity to apply their skills outside of the classroom.

I also agree that opportunities for training or mentorship are key, particularly to encourage early-stage startups to persist in their ventures. I don't think it would necessarily have to be funded by the City but on a voluntary basis. You could perhaps reward those volunteers in simple/cheap ways, such as an acknowledgements board in the hub or recognition on its website?

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:03PM

Great thoughts Sushmita. I agree with you on the huge potential of using volunteer-based mentors, esp. university students.

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Jeroen Spoelstra

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December 07, 2011, 12:55PM

Thank you for sharing this concept Sarah. To implement the concept around the world you could develop a kind of FabLab system, call it Incubator Lab and create an open source Incubation community. You could connect all the Incubators via 24hrs webcams, webinars etc. This lets the Incubators inspire and learn from each other and the companies in the Incubators globalize their markets. Connect all the Incubators!

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 29, 2011, 12:00PM

Thanks Jeroen. This is definitely something to dig deeper in terms of feasibility, but great idea!

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faheem gill

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December 23, 2011, 07:34AM

With the recent dust up of meritocracy in Silicon Valley there is a big opportunity of connecting VCs with minority startups. Market research would be a good starting point and as the skill set is developed or brought in then it could be a winning combination.

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faheem gill

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December 23, 2011, 07:32AM

i agree, with telecommuting one has to create a culture of creativity or an environment of creativity. Ann Arbor has started doing this, large urban cities like Detroit are starting it too.

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OpenIDEO

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December 22, 2011, 07:54PM

Congrats on being today's onsite Featured Concept!

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Meena Kadri

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December 06, 2011, 08:29PM

Great attraction, Sarah. I wonder how folks imagine things will play out if the start-up begins to do really well? What mechanisms might be in place to motivate businesses to do well enough to wean themselves off cheap rent over time?

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 06, 2011, 08:40PM

Hmmm. Interesting. I haven't really thought of any performance type of incentive as much as just attracting companies to come (and stay!). But this is definitely a good path to explore. Thanks Meena!

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Vincent Cheng's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Vincent Cheng

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December 07, 2011, 02:37AM

Hmm...well in some cases, incubators limit the amount of space per company. In other words, if you're growing/doing well enough to need more space for employees/inventory, you'll automatically make the move.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 08:40AM

That's also a good point Vincent.

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Rob Katz's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Rob Katz

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December 07, 2011, 10:21AM

In exchange for free rent, you could issue the city some kind of convertible shares in the company. If the company ends up doing well (i.e., it's the next Apple, Google, etc.) then the city reaps the upside and if not, then the shares aren't worth anything and the city did its best to try and seed innovation. Allowing philanthropists / grant makers to participate in the long-term economic upside of a successful company is a regulatory mess, but it's something we all should be thinking about. Thanks for a great suggestion, Sarah.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 10:48AM

Thank *you* Rob!

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Meena Kadri's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Meena Kadri

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December 07, 2011, 11:11PM

Indeed – that was a gem build from Rob. Sarah – check his profile and you'll see he's quite the rockstar of market-based approaches to social challenges :^) Great to have you onboard, Rob!

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Rob Katz's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Rob Katz

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December 08, 2011, 06:54AM

Meena, you are too kind. Sarah, let me know if you want to connect offline about this at all...the legal implications are something I've had to think about a lot and would be glad to share some more details as this concept moves along. It's a great idea!

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 08, 2011, 07:15PM

Hi Rob! That would be awesome. Ping me at sarah.fathallah@gmail.com
Thanks so much!

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Shankar Musafir's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Shankar Musafir

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December 20, 2011, 07:12AM

Am new at IDEO but its great to see...how ideas get built...the way Sarah started and Rob monetised the idea...brilliant

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OpenIDEO 's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

OpenIDEO

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December 20, 2011, 08:09AM

Welcome Shankar! Glad to note you've been digging our collaborative process. Hope to be seeing more of you on OpenIDEO.

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Iwona Gwozdz

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December 09, 2011, 12:59AM

Hi Sarah,

I think your idea has a lot of potential. I think generating economic growth through start-ups is key to create some form of sustainable growth.

I wonder if you could partner with local non-profits interested in revitalizing the city as well as local business professionals to provide guidance and mentorship. I'd be great if you could provide business skill training to locals who would want to start-up their own businesses. I think they'd be a good target market to look at since they are personally + emotionally invested in the community. Often times when a company undergoes a big transformation (Ex: Xerox), it has a higher success rate if you hire a new CEO internally as opposed to externally. I think this can be applied to this case. You want to find local aspiring entrepreneurs as opposed to entrepreneurs who want to relocate.

On another note, I wonder what the tipping point would be for this kind of venture?

Best of luck!

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Josh Petersel

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December 07, 2011, 05:48PM

This is brilliant, Sarah. Startup companies, by their nature, have already established characteristics such as a heightened appetite for lower bottom-line costs and heightened tolerance for risks.

Co-working spaces are getting bigger in St. Louis, as they afford small startups some of the luxuries of bigger companies (receptionist, board room, communal water cooler, etc.) while maintaining the benefits of staying small, independent, and flexible.

The attractiveness of such an opportunity should get supercharged by including the government amenities mentioned above. In addition to affordable office space, amenities such as affordable housing should be readily available to government and highly attractive to grassroots entrepreneurs.

Be careful, however, as entrepreneurs are also characteristically independent, and might actively seek to reject a government-funded project for the sake of accomplishing their work truly on their own.

Several commenters below have left suggestions about the focus of such a venture, questioning whether the members of the incubator space should be working directly on the city problem. I disagree. Being mindful of the task at hand (specifically, the word "vibrant"), I think it's vitally important to afford these startups the opportunity to progress in any direction they want. The diversity of ideas should lend itself well to the objective of "vibrancy," and I suspect that young entrepreneurs will nevertheless be mindful of and caring towards their home city.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 07, 2011, 07:04PM

Hi Josh! First of all thanks! I agree with you on all points, esp. the fact that we shouldn't restrict their activity. And really great idea as far as offering affordable housing as well!

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Rob Katz's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Rob Katz

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December 08, 2011, 06:58AM

There's a great example of a Hub and incubator co-locating here in Mumbai. UnLtd India incubates early stage social entrepreneurs and is based at the Hub, which is also open to entrepreneurs and early stage ventures of all stripes. Might be worth checking out - and if you want to connect to the UnLtd leads, let me know, happy to put you in touch - http://www.unltdindia.org/

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment

Sarah Fathallah

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December 08, 2011, 07:17PM

Hi Rob! Thanks again for offering your help. I'd love to connect with someone at UnLtd to get a sense of the inner workings of the incubator.

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Ciara Byrne

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December 08, 2011, 05:06PM

I added a new concept based on this one. A startup accelerator for social entrepreneurs.

http://www.openideo.com/open/vibrant-cities/concepting/impact-startup-accelerator-for-social-entrepreneurs/

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dema Mittal

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December 08, 2011, 09:28AM

Great idea Sarah! This is my 1st time in this space and i could connect to your idea so well. I am currently managing a 6 months certificate program called Craft Management and Entrepreneurship in a craft focused institute India (www.iicd.ac.in). The course aims to prepare creative leaders and social entrepreneurs, who will create, manage and evolve craft enterprises across diverse situations in the country. It would be a wonderful opportunity for my students as craft products and local buildings will complement each other.

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Catherine Day

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December 06, 2011, 07:17PM

Corporate sponsors could underwrite the utilities to get these workspaces up and running, for non-profit partners, literally "empowering" a cause and their brand.

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Sarah Fathallah's reply to Eddie Shiomi's comment