Criteria for Eligibility

1) Tenants who serve, or who plan to serve, a larger than local market.

That's because these "export market" businesses sell their products or services outside of the local trade area, bringing new revenues into the market. While local market businesses are important, they don't "expand the pie," or grow the economy, for everyone within the trade area. A variety of state programs, such as Enterprise Zone, also utilize the export market standard.

2) Tenants whose businesses are built around the new application of technology

In accordance with the guidelines of the Ben Franklin Partnership Board of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and with the Small Business Incubator Act I of 1984, the business applicant must:

1. Be for non-profit, less than three years old and engaged in one of the following fields: manufacturing, assembly, research and development or business service and technology. The business may be of any ownership structure, even a subsidiary of another established company. The business may be more than three years old and still eligible for the incubator if it is embarking on a distinctly different business plan. Also eligible would be a foreign company seeking its first location in the U.S.

AND/OR

2. need the services of the Innovation Center @ Wilkes-Barre for assistance in development of a new business, which will enhance the local economy and offer the potential of job growth.

Companies will be considered for occupancy if either (a) circumstances clearly indicate that a move to the Incubator will help retain or create jobs that would otherwise be lost and those circumstances could be effected positively by location of the firm in the Incubator or (b) the aim is to begin a research and production effort that is new and for which there is inadequate space in the company's present facility.