Windsor should establish a "Tech Town" to foster and support small business startups, says city council candidate Mike Burton.

The Ward 4 candidate is critical of how the Windsor Essex Economic Development Commission, of which he was once vice-president, doesn't cater to the smallest of potential local job creators but instead focuses on attracting large investors.

Burton wants Windsor to launch a Tech Town -- similar to new business incubator models in other cities -- that would provide fledgling entrepreneurs with accounting, legal, finance, marketing, business planning and other expertise they might need. Tech Town could also offer the small investor office space, administrative support and pilot production facilities, he said.

Burton said he recently met the perfect candidate for such an enterprise, a Windsor start-up entrepreneur with a "good product and a ready market," but who has poured all his savings into developing his product, is lacking a strong business plan and who "feels he's getting the runaround" from local lenders. Burton worries that Windsor could lose that individual to a region "where the climate may be more supportive."

"It's a great concept and I hope it happens. It's badly needed in this area," said Alfie Morgan, chairman of the city's small business advisory panel.

But Morgan, a retired University of Windsor business professor, is critical of part of Burton's proposal that would have the city and county governments kick-start the plan with approximately $500,000 in taxpayer funding.

"The whole concept of letting government do it doesn't cut it," said Morgan. He said the incubator "has to be championed by the private sector."

Under his plan, Burton said local accounting firms and financial institutions would be encouraged to get involved and provide financial support to innovative entrepreneurs. Once the small businesses that are provided startup assistance reach a "predetermined benchmark," they would have to put a percentage of their profits into a fund designed to help subsequent new ventures.

"I would love to see this," Morgan said of a small business incubator concept being implemented in Windsor.