MTEC Smart Zone continues impact and growth

KEWEENAW — Two Upper Peninsula lawmakers are being recognized for their support of new business.

With more than 500 jobs already created, the MTEC SmartZone continues to impact the Keweenaw area. But, those new companies may never have gotten started without the help of our state legislators throughout the years supporting the SmartZone.

That includes recent work done by State Senator Tom Casperson and State Representative Scott Dianda that extends funding for the SmartZone for another 15 years.

“So the work that has started, said MTEC Smartzone CEO Marilyn Clark. “We can leverage that and just go from success to success in the next fifteen years.”

Senator Tom Casperson says the MTEC SmartZone helps preserve one of our most precious resources, our young people. “This process does exactly the opposite,” said Casperson. “This process actually takes our children that are working and coming out of these universities and tapping into their talent and their expertise to create these small businesses, keep them here and create jobs.”

The investment in entrepreneurship has been paying off and Representative Scott Dianda says it’s important that lawmakers continue to support the SmartZone’s growth. “Anybody we can encourage to come up here and start a business and hire our people and to take a look at our infrastructure and be able to invest in a lot of our older buildings, is a win–win for everybody up here,” said Dianda.