Laurie Lane-Zucker: Pursue a new type of business as Berkshire economic engine – Berkshire Eagle OnlineLaurie Lane-Zucker: Pursue a new type of business as Berkshire economic engine

SHEFFIELD >> For any resident of the Berkshires reviewing the general and school population projections for the coming years, the news is undeniably dismaying: a county-wide population dropping below 100,000 (from a high in 1970 of 150,000) by 2045, and school-age population dropping by 28 percent in only 14 short years. The center will incubate businesses that will tackle the problems we face here in the Berkshires using 21st century solutions.

New model introduced

Alongside our Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation, we’ve introduced a new model to incentivize regional sustainable development. This model differs from traditional enterprise or economic “empowerment” zones in that they are explicitly structured to stimulate the incubation and acceleration of social and environmental impact businesses, trigger impact investments and spark the development of a regional “impact economy.”

The Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation will be a B Corp incubator and accelerator. The establishment of the Impact Entrepreneur Center for Social and Environmental Innovation and the world’s first Public Benefit Enterprise Zone can create a vibrant regional economy that authentically reflects our forward-thinking, farm-to-table values, taps into the region’s extraordinary creative culture, and creates a replicable model of a regional impact economy that we can export to a world thirsting for life-affirming, sustainable solutions.

Working together, we can build a more inclusive economy in the Berkshires.