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Within a five-mile stretch of Ypsilanti, Michigan, a founder can find a wet lab and office space, commercial kitchen space, coworking space, a research university, and a world-class vehicle testing ground. They all sit close enough that a company can move from an idea to a working business without leaving the area, and most of them have been in place for years.
Ann Arbor SPARK connects the companies in this corridor to resources, funding pathways, and talent. Ypsilanti has been building up the entrepreneurial support network for years, so today, founders can start a company, hire for it, and grow it without ever leaving town. Below, we take a closer look at Ypsilanti's innovation corridor: the spaces where companies get their start, the schools that feed them talent, and what it all means for Ypsilanti.
The spaces
Growing Hope is a commercial kitchen and food business incubator, the only licensed incubator kitchen in Washtenaw County. Since the kitchen opened, 15 food businesses have come through and gone on to operate on their own, including EK's Cheesecakes and No Label Juice, with some moving into their own storefronts. Growing Hope’s mission is dedicated to cultivating a local food ecosystem that is both sustainable and equitable, empowering every resident to engage in the cultivation, commerce, and consumption of healthy meals.
MI-HQ, short for Michigan Innovation Headquarters, sits across the street. It is a life sciences and technology campus offering renovated wet labs, research space, and offices where early-stage life science and biotech companies can scale. "Our focus is really on an early-stage, up-and-coming company - and that fits well with the independent, hard-working nature of Ypsilanti," says Mark Smith, President and Owner.
Back Office Studios offers flexible coworking in downtown Ypsilanti, a short walk from MI-HQ and Growing Hope, alongside Landline Creative Labs, a workspace for creative professionals like photographers, designers, writers, and filmmakers. Between them, the corridor has room for both technical startups and the creative talent that supports them.
The American Center for Mobility is a testing ground for connected and automated vehicles on the historic Willow Run site. Companies use its track and labs for driver-assistance and automated-vehicle testing, EV charging validation, and heavy truck and freight systems. Notable public projects include the robotics initiatives by Snowbotix and Motmot, alongside a co-location established by automotive cybersecurity specialists GRIMM. The campus brings high-skill engineering and research jobs into the area.
The SPARK East Innovation Center has supported the local entrepreneurial community since 2008. From an 8,000-square-foot space in downtown Ypsilanti, it gives startups coaching, coworking, and grants, and connects founders to the other resources along the corridor.
The university tie
Two schools within a few miles of Ypsilanti keep the talent pipeline strong. Eastern Michigan University offers programs in computer science, game design, and cybersecurity. The cybersecurity program runs through its GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology and is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security. It was among the first in the country to offer a cybersecurity major, and its graduates place at close to 100 percent at companies like Google and Amazon and agencies like the NSA. Washtenaw Community College adds technical training in fields like advanced manufacturing that feeds directly into corridor employers.
Companies here draw on both. As Smith puts it, the colleges help "in bringing in, lab techs and other expertise that can help the companies that we're trying to grow here." For a student, that means a chance to intern with a nearby company while still in school, then move into a full-time job after graduation without leaving the area.
What it means for the community
The result is that people build careers and companies here instead of leaving to find them. A cook can turn a recipe into a packaged product at Growing Hope and later open a storefront downtown. A cybersecurity graduate from Eastern can find work a few miles from where they studied. Jobs stay close to where people already live, and storefronts that might otherwise sit empty stay in use.
Buzzard points to the character of the place as much as the opportunity. "Ypsilanti is one of my favorite places I've lived in my life. We have people who show up for everything," he says. Scott Thomsen, founder and CEO of LuxWall, frames it from an employer's side. "You've got lots of facilities, you've got great healthcare, there's good restaurants, there's a good park system; Ypsilanti is a great place for our employees and everybody in the company, both to live and work."
The corridor's impact on Ypsilanti is measurable. At the SPARK East Innovation Center, the team supported 40 Ypsilanti startups in 2025 and awarded more than $150,000 in grants, working with companies in fields from pharmaceuticals and medical device manufacturing to finance and AI. Through SPARK's Innovate Ypsi program (2015 - 2025), more than $650,000 was distributed in grants to 18 projects, helping stimulate $48 million in investment and create 398 new jobs in Ypsilanti's zip codes. Of the businesses funded, 88 percent are still operating, and more than 77 percent remain based in Ypsilanti.
At the American Center for Mobility, the Willow Run campus runs at 90 percent occupancy, has served more than 200 customers, and logged 5,596 test hours in 2025.
Those numbers describe something simple: more people can earn a living and build a business in Ypsilanti without leaving it, and more of the money they make stays in the community.
See the corridor for yourself
SPARK's Ypsilanti page profiles companies working in the corridor, including LuxWall, Growing Hope, and MI-HQ. Founders weighing a move can start with SPARK's business resources, which include coworking, coaching, grant programs, and connections to funding.
