The Iowa Economic Development Board this morning approved a $400,000 loan package for Springboard Engineering Inc. of Newton, which intends to create 61 jobs in space vacated by Maytag Corp.

The start-up company will also receive investment tax credits and refunds of taxes paid during construction totaling an estimated $133,076. Half of its $400,000 loan will be forgivable, the other half a zero-interest loan.

The company’s eight owners, currently Maytag employees, are managing a similar engineering business for Maytag. Springboard will specialize in providing technical assessments of engineering concepts for inventors looking into prototype development of products. Its target markets include manufacturers of appliances, farm equipment and other consumer products.

Springboard will pay an average wage of $34.11 per hour, which is 130 percent of Jasper County’s average wage.