Wednesday, June 10 marked the groundbreaking for the first business incubator on the state’s eastern shore. The Eastern Shore Innovation Center in Cambridge will house startup businesses for a period of two years to help them grow and develop before they graduate to a local business space. As reported in The Star Democrat:

The 13,500 square-foot building, located at the new Dorchester County Technology Park adjacent to the Cambridge-Dorchester Regional Airport on Bucktown Road in Cambridge, could be home to up to 15 startup businesses. Dorchester Economic Development already has commitments from seven startup businesses to move in when the project is completed, anticipated in January 2016.

The $2.4 million Eastern Shore Innovation Center was funded with $1.2 million from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), $1 million from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and $200,000 from Dorchester County. Cambridge and the Mid-Shore Regional Council have also partnered with the Eastern Shore Innovation Center, which will join about 30 other incubators in Maryland.

“I want to thank each of you for the commitment to come together to create a stronger and more prosperous community,” said Dorchester County Economic Development Director Keasha Haythe. “The Eastern Shore Innovation Center will be a facility that will spark creativity, collaboration and community, creating new opportunities and a prosperous future for economic development.

“It is vital that we provide startups here on the Shore with the services and support and the facilities they need to succeed in business,” she said.

For more information read the full article in The Star Democrat.