Page 19 - Innovation Delaware 2021

MICHELE A. SCHIAVONI
appeal “just makes sense. Why pay high D.C., Philadelphia or New York rents when you can be in Delaware and still have easy access to all the talent, capital and resources?” (For more on cost of living in Delaware, see opposite page.)
Interest grew in 2020 for the Emerg- ing Enterprise Center, the chamber’s incubator on the Wilmington Riverfront that Beichner manages. He expects that interest to accelerate further as more entrepreneurs grow comfortable being out and about in a vaccinated world. The chamber last summer successfully ramped up programming for all those
people working from home.
Beichner believes that Delaware
will also draw more urban residents concerned about the time they spend in high-rises and their crowded elevators, as well as millennials who want yards for their kids.
MICHAEL QUARANTA, president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, also is starting to see some evidence of another factor that could help boost the First State: the presence of a Delawarean in the Oval Office. “International businesses and international leaders are looking at Delaware because they know
BOB BEICHNER
INNOVATION DELAWARE 17
JUSTIN HEYES/MOONLOOP PHOTOGRAPHY