$100 Million Fund for Michigan Businesses

Pontiac, Michigan - Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, the founder of Automation Alley, said the partnership between Stage 2 Innovations of Farmington Hills and Automation Alley will boost regional economic development.

Stage 2 Innovations , led by former Chrysler President and CEO Tom LaSorda, and Automation Alley announced a $100 million fund established to accelerate the large-scale commercialization of proven, innovative technologies in the global market.

This fund and partnership between Automation Alley and Stage 2 Innovations will take regional economic development to the next level, Patterson said. Companies in southeast Michigan which have a great product worthy of commercialization will now have the resources they need to sell their innovations to the world.

In his 1997 State of the County speech, Patterson announced his vision for Automation Alley to enable local high tech companies to compete with top technology corridors such as Silicon Valley, Bostons Route 128 and North Carolinas Research Triangle. Automation Alley has since grown from 44 organizations into a consortium of more than 1,000 high technology companies and government and educational entities across eight counties and the City of Detroit.

For more information, go to www.automationalley.com

Or go to: http://www.stage2innovations.com