Page 37 - BusinessWest July 7, 2025

ENGINEERING >>
Meeting of the Minds
HardTech
Holyoke Draws
on Innovative
Momentum in
Paper City
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
When Mike Stone looks around Holyoke
— and some of the innovative compa-
nies that have set up shop there — he
sees a city with several unique advantages.
“First of all, the cost of energy is low, which
is great for companies with electrical-heavy
processes. Then there’s the amount of avail-
able space,” said Stone, CEO of Cofab Design,
a Holyoke-based studio that develops hardtech
products (more on that term in a moment) and
the strategies to produce them.
“It makes much more sense to grow
a base here and have a little bit more
room to stretch out and grow. So
that’s the vision, and hopefully more
companies will take note.”
In addition, he noted, “there are about
60,000 students in the Pioneer Valley, plus an
industrial workforce that’s been here for more
than 150 years. That’s not to say it’s the same as
it was 100 years ago or 150 years ago, but there
are still a lot of precision manufacturers, and
there is a manufacturing workforce base here.
“So you have folks that know how to scale
processes and do manufacturing, and you have
the sort of innovation coming from the Five Col-
leges, plus the Boston-New York corridor, and I
just think we’re uniquely positioned here to be
able to kind of leverage that and offer second-
stage space.”
HardTech Holyoke, the second event of its
kind (the first took place in 2023), highlights
some of the innovative companies that are grow-
ing in Holyoke. The gathering, held on June 18
at Open Square, brought attendees face to face
with the minds behind growing companies like
Clean Crop Technologies, which is developing
new ways to remove contamination from seeds
and foods; Sublime Systems, which is develop-
ing an innovative cement manufacturing pro-
cess; Xenocs, which uses X-ray technology to
Cofab Design
Partner Mike Stone
Business W est << ENGINEERING >>
JULY 7, 2025
37