Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but last week's news that Delphi Corp. and probably other technology companies are about to take up residence in Kettering University's long-planned riverfront research park is an enormous breakthrough for a city needing a fresh start.

Don't expect the second coming of General Motors right away, but this probably is the beginning of a research and development economy in Flint, which carries incalculable potential. The 35 to 40 jobs foreseen initially at a proposed research lab for manufacturing fuel cells could persuade other companies to set up shop on the hardscrabble acreage once teeming with GM factories.

Kettering has been the catalyst in all of this. Its foray into fuel cell research a few years ago has led to the recent completion of the school's fuel cell center, which is for studying the budding technology and how best to adapt it to automotive powertrains and other uses.

But Kettering's vision is much larger than this academic endeavor. It seeks to spawn an entire community of research labs and offices next to its campus, forming a foundation on which to rebuild Flint's ravaged economy.

Call it a dream, especially when there are towns far better fixed than Flint to lure such enterprises. But Kettering's and others' hard work is starting to pay off. Assuming state and federal funding is gained - something we're confident of based on Kettering's track record - a 20,000-square-foot building would be constructed to house a fuel cell research lab for Delphi and three or four renewable energy firms being courted.

Such private-sector buy-in to what Kettering and local officials are pushing likely would draw the attention of other businesses with a science and engineering bent, companies that would help create high-tech employment that pays well and has a future.

While many communities have the educated people and other resources to foster such exciting prospects, Kettering and its local partners have shown convincingly with this news that Flint can be one of those places, too.