CIC: Catalyzing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (A)

CIC creates "entrepreneurial ecosystems," renting out office and co-working space to start-ups and related companies and providing basic business needs like Wi-Fi and legal advice. Founder Tim Rowe refers to the CIC as "innovation infrastructure," bringing together money, talent, and ideas in one place. Founded in Cambridge in 1999, CIC has since grown to become one of the largest concentrations of entrepreneurial activity in the world and has expanded to multiple locations across the Boston area. Rowe envisions taking this model to cities across the world, and CIC is in fact about to open a new branch in St. Louis, its first location outside greater Boston. He is concerned, though, because one month from opening day, CIC still has a lot of empty space and few clients signed up. Rowe and his team have to consider how to quickly bring in more clients before opening day, and, more broadly, whether the CIC idea will work outside the Boston/Cambridge area.