Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

David R. Carey Contributing Columnist

I spend a good portion of my life being a cheerleader.

A lifelong and 13th generation Wyoming Valley resident, I extol the merits of this area to anyone who will listen.

As a college professor, I support my students in their learning efforts and root for their success.

And as a business owner with 35 years of experience in the engineering field, I applaud the efforts of community and workforce leaders to bring this area back from the Great Recession.

These vantage points now converge as I salute what is becoming “the little (economic) engine that could” —Wilkes University and its regional development collaborators.

The small Wilkes-Barre based university is leading a local movement, not unlike that of forward-looking mega-institutions like Drexel University and Penn State University. A movement that recognizes our state’s economy not only needs well-trained graduates but also promising jobs in which to employ them.

Drexel is developing an Innovation Neighborhood for research, technology transfer and economic development next to its Philadelphia campus. Meanwhile, in Centre County, Penn State plans this summer to open another 82,000-square-foot building at its 118-acre Innovation Park for new and existing businesses that promote research and economic development.

This spring the Wilkes Enterprise Center inaugurated similar efforts in the Wyoming Valley.

The new business incubator opened in the Luzerne Bank Building, 67 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, as an initiative of the Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Wilkes University. Nine business start-ups are already benefiting from the support being made available.

Three of them are student-run enterprises: Kraken Boardsports, which manufactures outdoor recreation products; Magnesium Works, a company developing a therapeutic wrap to be used in athletics and other applications; and Penwel, which is developing a product to increase student safety at parties.

Other businesses, run by Wilkes faculty and staff, include: Bepa Studio, a nature photography studio; MC2 Consulting Group, providing leadership training and consulting services; Xonnel Enterprises, designs and manufactures fitness equipment; Four Hound Solutions LLC, automated testing and diagnostic solutions for electronics manufacturing; and Penn3D LLC, an additive manufacturing and 3D printing company.

(Full disclosure: I am a principal in the latter two enterprises.) At The Inkwell, the ninth company, is a virtual partner, not housed at the center. At The Inkwell specializes in book promotion and reviews in an online platform.

National Business Incubation Association members say that, historically, 87 percent of firms nurtured by them are still in business—and 84 percent remain in their communities. Economies are strengthened when these new business owners create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and commercialize new technologies.

We are counting on nimble small businesses to drive the post-recession recovery and the high-tech field specifically can be a key to sustained growth.

Penn State’s Center for Economic and Community Development says the shift of Pennsylvania’s jobs from high-middle to low-middle wage industries during this millennium has been a critical problem for the economy.

One way to slow or reverse this trend is to encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses in high-tech growth industries.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual wage in Luzerne County is just over $39,000—but employees in certain engineering occupations earn more than double that amount.

I mention this statistic frequently to my students — just as I talk to them about the idyllic benefits of small-town life among pristine natural resources. (A fact of which many local residents who commute to New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia for their viable jobs are well aware).

The momentum developing at the new Wilkes Enterprise Center can change the dynamics of Wilkes-Barre and the industries within it.

While Downtown right now is home to many small professional firms—lawyers, doctors, accountants—they may not necessarily be significant job generators.

By comparing the high-tech businesses with others in the area, we see the job-creating power that growth-oriented technology companies harness. It is clear that encouraging the creation of new high-tech businesses can boost our economy.

We need to continue to help create more high-tech firms that will grow family-sustaining jobs and hire our impressive graduates. Then, instead of the frustrating “brain drain” experienced when graduates and native sons and daughters leave the area, we can swell the ranks of those cheering for the Wyoming Valley and NEPA.

The Wilkes Enterprise Center is a catalyst for high-tech jobs, enabling us to educate our students and then, upon graduation, provide them with quality jobs that are local—that is significant.