In late April, brand new Dudley Square-based accelerator Smarter in the City revealed the handful of startups from the Dorchester area that would be participating in its six-month pilot. In the past week, the business development training program’s first cohort successfully moved in to its space at 100 Warren Street, and began building.
Though Smarter in the City ran into some difficulty raising money and bringing on mentors, it has gathered the support of a number of top high-tech companies in the Boston and Cambridge areas. Brightcove, Metis Communications and the Boston Foundation are on-board to sponsor the first-ever program, while Fiksu, Google, Leaf, Terrible Labs, the Tap Lab, Harvard IQSS will be pitching in with mentoring the startup teams.
"Roxbury, and specifically Dudley Square, has amazing energy right now."
Much like the freshly-opened co-working space Fields Corner Business Lab, Smarter in the City aims to leverage innovation to build community in some of Boston’s overlooked and underserved neighborhoods. Most of the Smarter in the City-selected businesses sprouted in the Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury neighborhoods, and were founded by minority or women entrepreneurs. The added $5,000 in funding being pumped into each startup doesn't hurt, either.
We shot a few questions over to Smarter in the City founder Gilad Rosenzweig to find out more about his initial idea for the accelerator, and his hopes for its future.
Gillis Bernard: How did you get the idea for Smarter in the City?
Gilad Rosenzweig:I was working on a project evaluating the impact of new developments in Roxbury. The idea was that changes to the physical landscape and the creation of more local jobs will improve a certain set of socio-economic metrics. Although this could very well be the case, I felt that a direct intervention dealing with one particular industry sector, high-tech, was missing from the equation, and that the inclusion of technology and computer-science jobs in the neighborhood will have a much bigger and longer lasting impact than logistics, retail, and service-related jobs would.
I had a simple idea that what is happening in Kendall Square could also happen in Dudley Square - but be unique to Dudley and not an extension or replica of the other successful tech areas in the city. Moreover, that it is not simply technology jobs, but also opportunities for technological entrepreneurs that are needed in the community.
Why Roxbury?
Roxbury, and specifically Dudley Square, has amazing energy right now. This is a place of growth, rich with culture and history. It is well located, accessible to most of the city, and has the space and will to develop. It is also a neighborhood that has endured very difficult times over the past fifty years, and a neighborhood that is too often misunderstood and ignored. The rest of the city is beginning to take note of the changes and there is a fear that some will only see the opportunities for physical development, and not the social and human capital that makes the neighborhood great.
Does SiTC offer an edge that other incubators and accelerators in Boston don't? If so, what is it?
Smarter in the City is interested in who the entrepreneur is, not just what they are creating. We are also putting an emphasis on outreach to other communities (social and business) to foster strong networks for the accelerator members.
What's your favorite aspect of SiTC?
The community we are creating. The community of startups, the connections with the neighborhoods and the interconnection with other neighborhoods.
What do you hope SiTC will bring to the Roxbury community, and vise versa?
We hope to help Roxbury attract more positive attention, investment, collaboration. We hope that the companies who are working in the accelerator will be a beacon themselves to younger members of the community who will see a future in high-tech and entrepreneurship.
We are new to Roxbury and need to be informed and guided by the local business and social communities.
