The Kokomo Howard County Development Corporation (KHDC), in collaboration with Purdue University and Indiana University Kokomo, established Inventrek to encourage the development of high-tech businesses by providing services and an atmosphere in which they can thrive and prosper.

Beginning in 2000, the KHDC successfully worked to conceptualize, establish and lay the groundwork for the Inventrek Technology Park to be a high-technology incubator and a key economic development strategy for the region.

With the suggested potential and availability of resources for a high-tech incubator, the KHDC moved to a demonstration phase to begin testing the purported potential. A “virtual incubator” was put into play that provided business development services to local entrepreneurs who were in the process of commercializing new technologies. At the same time, a mentor network was established and the KHDC began to explore venture capital options and potential sites for the incubator.

As community leadership and support strengthened, funding was made available from multiple sources for the actual start-up of the Inventrek Technology Park. Then, in 2003, Delco Electronics Corporation, as its last act using the Delco name, donated its former corporate headquarters on East Firmin Street in Kokomo to the KHDC for use as the Inventrek Technology Park. The nearly 100,000 square-foot office and light industrial site is an excellent site for development of technology-driven businesses.

With dedicated facilities in place and a successful demonstration within the “virtual incubator,” the Inventrek Technology Park was ready to launch. A general manager was employed to oversee and supervise the development and operation of the business incubator. Today, the incubation program has been carefully structured and refined based on best practices realized in other incubators around the world and has joined the prestigious ranks as one of Indiana’s Certified Technology Parks.

In January 2009, our community officially launched a comprehensive economic development strategy, merging key existing entities into the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance. One of the key strategies identified by the Alliance is innovation. Inventrek Technology Park is at the heart of the development of networks that support entrepreneurs and innovative companies.