Recently, BRITE energy and the Youngstown Business Incubator announced a formal partnership.
It is an effort to spur entrepreneurship and increase the numbers of business start-ups throughout the Mahoning Valley.

While new businesses have a ribbon-cutting ceremony, BRITE Energy Innovators and the Youngstown Business Incubator recently held a ribbon-tying event.
It's was a symbolic union of a formal partnership between the two,

Soon, YBI will take up six buildings in downtown Youngstown. The newest will be an innovation hub for defense and aerospace.
They work directly with manufacturers to help them use more innovative technologies to be more competitive in the marketplace.

"Regardless of the industry that somebody is in we have resources to support them. We are a technology incubator we work with a wide variety of tech-based start-ups, advanced energy, health care, software. But we also have a support network for traditional businesses," said Jink Lyon, interim CEO ar BRITE.

YBI will now oversee Brite's Warren offices.

According to YBI's CEO, they'll be able to provide BRITE with expertise in entrepreneurship, minority business assistance and advanced manufacturing. And all of that should be able to add new tenets to their space, which at this point is only about half filled.
BRITE's CEO believes being able to attract more small businesses outside the energy realm will help them grow.

"Being able to connect them them to the broader ecosystem, being able to get corporate partners who will be able to invest in their space, being able to get investors in the private sector who are interested in bringing money and connecting them to the people who are trying to build these companies is critical and that's where BRITE and YBI can serve is to be that connector," said Barb Ewing, CEO at YBI.

Both entities help start-ups and together they want to make the Mahoning valley more tech belt and less rust belt.

"We'll start as early as an idea and talk to them through what it looks like to build a business around it and then we'll figure out what a road map looks like for every entrepreneur it's different, said Lyon.