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Old Heat CERB Feasibility Study | 9 <br /> <br />Why it matters <br />Old Heat can bring better-paying jobs to Kittitas County. It keeps the building’s history alive while giving <br />it a new purpose. <br />It helps local businesses use new technology (like <br />robotics and AI) so they can compete. <br />It supports industries that can grow for a long time, <br />not just quick wins. <br />At its core, the Old Heat project is about connection. It will bring together Central Washington University’s talent, local businesses, and state and national industries, creating a bridge between <br />the region’s untapped potential and its future. The building can serve as a launch pad for new companies, an on-ramp for existing businesses looking to modernize, and a place where <br />innovation happens daily. Tenants could include startups, aerospace and agricultural technology firms, clean energy developers, and other high-value industries. Each of these businesses will <br />have access to shared labs, training areas, and collaborative spaces, making Old Heat a hub for both creative ideas and practical skills. <br />Old Heat can be a Multiplicative Enterprise <br />EXTRACTIVE RETENTIVE ADDITIVE ACCELERATIVE MULTIPLICATIVE <br />Characteristics: <br />• Profit flows leave the region <br />• Limited local reinvestment <br />• No improvement in local skill base or <br />infrastructure <br />Characteristics: <br />• Primarily serve local markets <br />• Often small, independently owned <br />• May provide modest job creation but <br />limited wage growth <br />Characteristics: <br />• Expand the economic base <br />• May rely on relatively low-wage or <br />low-skill labor <br />• Provide positive but modest <br />contributions to long-term prosperity <br />Characteristics: <br />• Improve workforce skills and <br />technology sophistication <br />• Generate or attract <br />complementary firms <br />• Foster R&D and knowledge spillovers <br />Characteristics: <br />• Attracts, starts, nurtures primarily <br />accelerative enterprises <br />• Tech transfer <br />Business models are rigid extractive/ <br />commoditized activities, limited <br />positive externalities <br />COMMUNITY DYNAMIC CAPACITY Enterprises build transferable skill, expand <br />future options for community <br />OLD HEAT <br /> 5 <br />WHY IT MATTERS <br />WHY IT MATTERS