Mike Melillo

 / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
/ PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

What are the biggest hurdles to starting a business in Rhode Island?

It’s a small state and there is not a tremendous amount of talent that’s acceptable. That’s forced me to open a second location in Cambridge, Mass., to attract [talent]. It’s not to say talented people don’t exist here, but it’s just the volume and opportunity to pick them up that is significantly less because a lot of the most talented people go to work in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Does Rhode Island have the resources to help companies develop innovative products and services?

It kills me that Palo Alto is about the same distance from San Francisco as Boston is to Providence, and every morning companies there ship their employees back and forth, yet there are no Boston companies that send their employees to Providence. And we have public transportation. We live in proximity to some of the greatest universities in the country, so I think there are some things the state can do with taxes and policy to try and incentivize businesses to locate here.

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What industry offers the greatest potential for growth through innovation in R.I. and why?

I’m biased toward technology. Looking at our assets here in the state, we have an opportunity to be a leader in tech. Manufacturing was the lifeblood in Rhode Island for a long time, but it’s also going to take a long time to get those jobs back. Providence is a great city, in proximity to great universities. We should focus on how we can get some of that talent to stay here and start investing in Providence. If we do that, it creates a honey pot for tech development and the talent will follow.

How about technology in marine-based industries?

The marine industry is great in Rhode Island, and great for us because we get to talk to our customers every day and there’s a great benefit to that. But I would encourage people to [avoid] this idea that technology has to be tied to a local economy. We’re running an entire mooring operation in Puerto Rico from Newport.

As your company grows, will Rhode Island continue to be the best place for Dockwa?

We’re focused and dedicated on staying in Rhode Island, but at the end of the day if we can have a location in another city and save 10-15 percent in costs, that’s got to be on the table for us as a business. We’re at the point where we’ll be having those discussions in 2017 with the implications of our business growing. •

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