Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
A new future home for entrepreneurs to start companies in Hawaii was unveiled Wednesday in Kakaako.
The developer of the “Entrepreneur’s Sandbox” held a blessing for the $7.3 million state-owned business incubation center, which was paid for by federal, state and private funding.
The two-story facility featuring exposed steel beams and varnished flakeboard walls includes space for collaborative working, digital media production, creative lab work, meetings, video conferencing, office use and a “makery” for producing things with 3D printers, laser cutters and other high-tech equipment.
Though funding is still needed to fill the 13,500- square-foot center with furniture and equipment, the facility is expected to start hosting events in April.
Supporters of the project said the center will help bolster Hawaii’s high-technology sector, and is aptly next to the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine and Cancer Center.
“Technology is driving each and every industry here in the islands,” Gov. David Ige said at the blessing event. “It is pervasive and it is changing even traditional industries.”
The facility will be managed by the Hawaii Technology Development Corp., a state agency that has worked on the project for more than five years.
Len Higashi, HTDC acting executive director, said the facility was needed to supplement the agency’s Manoa Innovation Center, which lacked space for more tenants and new platforms for working.
HTDC arranged to locate the facility on part of a parking lot owned by another state agency, the Hawaii Community Development Authority, and had secured $3 million from the Legislature and $3 million from the Federal Economic Development Administration. Local developer Stanford Carr contributed $1.3 million and produced the building for the state.
Herbert Thweatt, economic development representative for the federal agency, praised the project and said he would love to have proposals like it on his desk every week.
Entrepreneurs interested in using space in the facility can register to receive updates at htdc.org.
72