Chester County is a place where entrepreneurs can grow the companies and technology of the future.

“With the recent opening of 23,000-square-foot life sciences incubator 8HUB in Malvern and the Keystone Innovation Zone designation of the building holding the forthcoming nth Innovation Center in Coatesville, the county is primed for economic growth,” says Patrick Hayakawa, VP of innovation and emerging technologies at the Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC).

8HUB plans to offer lab space to life science startups, while the nth Innovation Center, which formerly housed a steel manufacturing company before sitting vacant, aims to attract technology companies.

“While COVID-19 has slowed some business sectors, Philadelphia-area biotech companies continue to see an increased need for research and development infrastructure in 2021,” said 8HUB and 8BioMed COO Hubert Ho in a statement about the new incubator. “We are making a strategic investment to meet that demand by converting part of our reserved space in our headquarters into collaborative lab space.”

Both of these projects, nth Innovation Center and 8HUB, are physical, tangible signs of the progress that Chester County innovation economy has made in the last year. Between the two of them is over 50,000 square of space for innovation in tax advantage zones with the potential for 50 or so tenants. The innovation center is the first construction project in Coatesville in 50 years and part of the revitalization of the city and testament to great collaboration and entrepreneurial spirit.

Read the full article in Technical.ly Philly.