Providence needs more of an infusion of Boston/Cambridge

Adapted from Robert Whitcomb's "Digital Diary,'' in GoLocal24.com

Best of luck to Social Enterprise Greenhouse, a Providence-based local-business accelerator.

The Providence region, between the huge dynamos of Boston and New York, has long lagged in business startups. But progress has been made in the past few years. While Rhode Island has only one well-known angel investment firm – Cherrystone Angel Group -- the state is increasingly on the radar in Boston, one of America’s venture-capital centers. Particularly attractive are the Ocean State’s lower costs, its natural and manmade beauty (well, not everywhere) and, in particular, colleges doingimportant research and innovation. The state-backed Slater Technology Fund, for its part, provides limited amounts of funding to tech startups.

Cambridge Innovation Center’s plan to expand into the new Wexford Science and Technology Center in downtown Providence may help a lot. Kudos to Governor Raimondo’s administration for helping to bring it in.

Obviously it also would help if Providence again became more of a big-company headquarters town again, to provide another source of money for local entrepreneurs.