At the annual State of the City Address in Portland, Oregon, Mayor Sam Adams said that the city will make $500,000 available for innovative small business ventures that may be matched by banks.
The city is creating a Portland Small Business Seed Fund in conjunction with the Sustainable Development Fund. The $500,000 seed fund will come from the Portland Development Commission and the city will be loaning the money as opposed to making equity investments. The fund’s success will be measured through the number of jobs created by the companies who receive the funds.
Mayor Adams said that the investment is a result of multiple talks with the people behind NedSpace who have been campaigning for more public support for startups.
A simple, sustainable Wi-Fi solution is one of such possible business ventures. Using solar powered kiosks in neighborhood parks, residents would have access to free Wi-Fi. In the next three years, the plan has the potential to fund itself, stimulate jobs in news media and software development, and deliver emergency broadband communications throughout the city.
Each kiosk would be a neighborhood node and a laser-based microprojector coupled to an iPad/iTouch would provide a small ruggedized display. The splash page would feature an interactive news map with localized Nozzl News, traffic, and weather. Service could also be customized using cell phones.
Community-based advertising would provide $100/month revenue for each Kiosk and over 36 months, the $3,600 cost could be re-paid.
Photo via Flickr courtesy of Ben Amstutz
