Guest feature: Brian Sheavly is the marketing director for the Howard County Economic Development Authority. Follow HCEDA on Facebook and Twitter.

The Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA) held a ceremonial wall breaking to kick off construction of the new Howard County Innovation Center. It was also announced at the event that The MITRE Corporation has signed a MOU to support an innovative big data and software lab, called “The Viking Lab,” in the center.

“The Howard County Innovation Center is here to keep Howard County on the cutting edge and enable our community to continue growing; creating successful companies and high paying jobs,” said Lawrence Twele, CEO of the HCEDA. “For 25 years, our organization has grown and evolved with the business community in Howard County, finding new and innovative ways to provide the support they need. I am excited to see the next chapter of these services begin at the Innovation Center.”

The Center, which is scheduled to open spring 2019, will be a 50,000-sq. ft. full-service resource for local businesses and the entrepreneurship community. MITRE’s Viking Lab will be managed by Howard County based company Trimia and will occupy approximately 1,000 sq. ft. in the building. The goal of the lab is to provide private sector companies the opportunity to solve complex governmental problems.

The MITRE Corporation, a private non-profit corporation, operates federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) that help government agencies address many of their critical challenges. This is MITRE’s first Viking Lab to focus on Intelligent Cities challenges and the goal is to create solutions that are of a public value and to foster technology job creation in the local area.

The Center will offer businesses a variety of tools and resources to grow. Already committed to the Center will be the incubator and entrepreneur services of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, the Howard Tech Council, MITRE Corporation, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), SCORE, Franunhofer, Howard Community College, Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP), and the HCEDA. More resources are expected to be added leading up to the opening.

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