The Switzerland County Technology and Education Center has served as an adult education facility and community center since its creation in 2012. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the TEC Center began serving entrepreneurs and remote workers needing office and meeting space as well as internet connectivity. In spite of the space being limited in amenities and offering no support services, this offering was well received, and users expressed a desire to continue this relationship in the future.

We are seeking assistance to modify the facility and programming to permanently accommodate and support these users. In addition, the TEC Center was recently selected by Purdue University as a location for their Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (IN-MaC) Design and Innovation Studio. This will allow both entrepreneurs and workers to access new technology in their own community and benefit from IN-MaC’s wide range of resources.

Our primary outcome with this initiative is to make the facility a regional magnet for entrepreneurs and remote workers by offering much more than space and internet. We want to offer a business and professional community with a full complement of business tools, trainings and ongoing interaction. In spite of being a small community, Switzerland County believes that this support for or regional business ecosystem can be cost-effectively sustained by co-locating it with adult education/workforce training resources already in place.

SEI READI News