Thursday, April 23, 2020
In The Zone - Centrepolis
On this episode, Director Dan Radomski provides an inside look at Southfield's SmartZone, the Centrepolis Accelerator. Supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Lawrence Technological University and the City of Southfield, Centrepolis Accelerator is dedicated to helping designers, manufacturers, engineers and tech experts commercialize their innovative products.
A 6,200-square-foot state-of-the-art building, Centrepolis Accelerator boasts flexible co-working space, training facilities, meeting rooms, a zen booth for private phone calls and a manufacturing technology facility. The lab’s cutting-edge machines allow entrepreneurs and startups to protype their products before taking them to the market, ensuring durability, liability and cost reductions. The SmartZone provides training if clients want to learn how to operate the machines, but an in-house lab manager is also available to help develop and test protypes.
Since 2016, Centrepolis Accelerator has served more than 310 companies and generated over $33 million in new capital. Some of this success can be attributed to the SmartZone’s Scale Up for Success Program. Supported by the MEDC, the program provides high-tech startups and entrepreneurs with a collaborative community of mentors and peers, workshops, networking opportunities and interns from Lawrence Technological University.
With funding from the MEDC, SmartZones like Centrepolis Accelerator help tenants fast-track their business concepts from ideation into commercialization by providing them the resources they need to grow.
If you have a high-tech startup idea you’d like to explore further and don’t know where to start, contact the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation initiative at 888-522-0103 or visit https://www.michiganbusiness.org/entrepreneurship.