Housed in an Ellicott City building the county purchased a year ago, the center is expected to open officially in May as a support system for fledgling information technology firms. The authority kicked off renovation work on the building last week, and it expects to eventually house 15 or so companies at a time, each for up to three years. Its president, Bruce G. Montgomery, hopes to be in the incubator space by early next month, even though the refurbishing work on the building just began. The county's incubator is designed for information technology companies and ones that have some connection to Howard County.
National statistics say .
Columbia's a wonderful place for a technology company anyway. All of the support contractors . Others interested in setting up shop in the incubator include companies that would develop software training systems, software for the airline industry and computer hardware. All of the resources are designed to help the young businesses flourish. Nationally, he said, more than 80 percent of companies born in incubators are still in business five years later.