KEDCO Seeks Funding For New Medical Tech Program
December 8, 2021 at 12:36 a.m.
KEDCO Seeks Funding For New Medical Tech Program
By David [email protected]
At the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer Alan Tio said that about 1 to 1-1/2 years ago, the Commissioners and Council approved for some money to be used for COVID-19 relief loans for small businesses. That money was not used.
“So, the request is to be able to reallocate half of those dollars – $50,000 – toward a new program we’d like to launch that would establish a new accelerator studio. It’s a new program to help encourage start-up companies in the medical technology,” Tio said.
He said it might not be hips and knees as much as robotics, data analysis that help support the medical device sector and agri-business sector.
“It’s a way to help encourage more of that activity. So, we’re asking the city of Warsaw to (provide) dollars as well and we plan to receive some federal dollars, as well as some other sources. But we’d certainly appreciate it if the county would allow us to reallocate half of those small business relief loan funds toward this program to help us get that launched,” Tio said.
He said KEDCO would like to do the program three years in a row, so, if possible, he asked the county to provide $50,000 a year for three years.
“Our goal is to have five companies a year, so after three years we’d see 15 new start-up companies in med tech here in the area,” Tio stated.
Commissioner Cary Groninger said he was with Tio when they went to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation a few weeks ago.
“When we brought up this innovation center, I know that was something that definitely raised some eyebrows as far as interest down state. They thought this was a really good idea for a community to be forward-thinking and trying to catch these companies at their infancy stage and incubate them here so we can continue to keep our orthopedic cluster group of industry we have here. So I think it was really good to see their interest in this,” Groninger said.
He said reallocating those small business relief loan funds to the program was a good thing to do.
Commissioner Bob Conley said it was huge, the money is there so it should be put to good use and put it to work.
Commissioner Brad Jackson asked if they were discussing $50,000 one time, which he preferred, and seeing how it goes from there. Groninger said the program really needed three years to get it going, and he made a motion to allow $50,000 for 2022 and each of the following two subsequent years, subject to Council approval. His motion was approved 3-0.
Tio then asked the Commissioners to draft a letter of support for KEDCO’s application for federal dollars, which the Commissioners approved.
Tio then asked the Commissioners to think about reallocating the other $50,000 from the COVID-19 small business relief loan fund to KEDCO’s existing revolving loan fund. The revolving loan fund has been in place for about 15 years, Tio said, and it started with a state grant. Groninger said it would benefit some of the start-up businesses they were talking about.
The Commissioners took the request under advisement to consider it further.
Finally, Tio presented the county’s 2022 fee-for-service agreement with KEDCO. He said there were no changes from the 2021 agreement, and it was the third year in a row that KEDCO has not requested an increase in level support for operations.
Jackson made a motion to approve the agreement and it was passed 3-0.
At the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer Alan Tio said that about 1 to 1-1/2 years ago, the Commissioners and Council approved for some money to be used for COVID-19 relief loans for small businesses. That money was not used.
“So, the request is to be able to reallocate half of those dollars – $50,000 – toward a new program we’d like to launch that would establish a new accelerator studio. It’s a new program to help encourage start-up companies in the medical technology,” Tio said.
He said it might not be hips and knees as much as robotics, data analysis that help support the medical device sector and agri-business sector.
“It’s a way to help encourage more of that activity. So, we’re asking the city of Warsaw to (provide) dollars as well and we plan to receive some federal dollars, as well as some other sources. But we’d certainly appreciate it if the county would allow us to reallocate half of those small business relief loan funds toward this program to help us get that launched,” Tio said.
He said KEDCO would like to do the program three years in a row, so, if possible, he asked the county to provide $50,000 a year for three years.
“Our goal is to have five companies a year, so after three years we’d see 15 new start-up companies in med tech here in the area,” Tio stated.
Commissioner Cary Groninger said he was with Tio when they went to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation a few weeks ago.
“When we brought up this innovation center, I know that was something that definitely raised some eyebrows as far as interest down state. They thought this was a really good idea for a community to be forward-thinking and trying to catch these companies at their infancy stage and incubate them here so we can continue to keep our orthopedic cluster group of industry we have here. So I think it was really good to see their interest in this,” Groninger said.
He said reallocating those small business relief loan funds to the program was a good thing to do.
Commissioner Bob Conley said it was huge, the money is there so it should be put to good use and put it to work.
Commissioner Brad Jackson asked if they were discussing $50,000 one time, which he preferred, and seeing how it goes from there. Groninger said the program really needed three years to get it going, and he made a motion to allow $50,000 for 2022 and each of the following two subsequent years, subject to Council approval. His motion was approved 3-0.
Tio then asked the Commissioners to draft a letter of support for KEDCO’s application for federal dollars, which the Commissioners approved.
Tio then asked the Commissioners to think about reallocating the other $50,000 from the COVID-19 small business relief loan fund to KEDCO’s existing revolving loan fund. The revolving loan fund has been in place for about 15 years, Tio said, and it started with a state grant. Groninger said it would benefit some of the start-up businesses they were talking about.
The Commissioners took the request under advisement to consider it further.
Finally, Tio presented the county’s 2022 fee-for-service agreement with KEDCO. He said there were no changes from the 2021 agreement, and it was the third year in a row that KEDCO has not requested an increase in level support for operations.
Jackson made a motion to approve the agreement and it was passed 3-0.
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