With its startup incubator closing, Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp. announced a new initiative to provide resources for cybersecurity startups last week.
The Chesapeake Innovation Center in Odenton closed on July 1 following a March announcement by Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh that the incubator would be defunded in the 2017 budget. In a March 1 letter announcing the closure, Schuch wrote that the incubator was “not sustainable,” having received $130,000 equity in return after $11 million in public and private funds invested. The CIC opened in 2003, and moved to Odenton in 2014 to be closer to Fort Meade.
The incubator provided space for member startups, as well as programming and events. The Capital Gazzette reported that startup founders sought to encourage County officials to keep the incubator open at a March hearing. Among those calling for the incubator to remain open were Ethan Dietrich, who said CIC helped him grow his cybersecurity company SixGen since joining in 2014. At the hearing, he said closing…