Rural Innovation Hubs and Incubators
The Rural Innovation Hub model, developed by the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), focuses on the creation of a live/work hub within a community’s downtown, in coordination with digital skills training to support remote jobs and technology ventures. The hubs provide invaluable fast, reliable broadband, workforce training and mentorship programs
The strategy is to scale this model in rural communities across the country to create a critical mass of trained job seekers for the continuously growing technology sector as well as investment opportunities to attract interest from national employers and investors.
Rural LISC partner organization Go Forward Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, AR, is implementing an Innovation Hub strategy in the Mississippi Delta called The Generator. They have created an environment which houses a co-working space with the latest technology and a diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem, while fostering a risk-taking, imagining, problem-solving, discovery, and collaborative atmosphere. Learn more about how The Generator is aiming to help dreamers in Pine Bluff.
Another partner organization, Elevate in Mattoon, IL, is implementing an Innovation Hub and Incubator strategy. In central rural Illinois, they are fostering an environment that nurtures innovation and economic prosperity through collaboration of their community entrepreneurs. Through this, they strive to encourage, connect, and grow small business startups.
