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Incubators just getting warmed up |
| By
Matt Lockwood |
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Jun 13, 2008
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It’s no secret that manufacturing jobs in Ohio are decreasing by the day. What many people don’t realize is that The University of Toledo has been working with researchers and entrepreneurs every day to nurture new companies in Toledo and create technology-related jobs.
And it’s working.
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| A 17,000-square-foot second floor is being added to the Clean and Alternative Energy incubator located at 2600 Dorr St. in the UT Science and Technology Corridor. |
Currently, UT has two business incubators: a Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator on Main Campus and an Information Technology Incubator on the Health Science Campus.
This year, the incubators’ eight tenants and the three recent graduates — double the number from 18 months ago — have accounted for 72 new jobs and $4.7 million in payroll, and these companies currently are seeking 27 more employees.
“By assisting startup businesses, we’re giving the local economy a boost, which falls perfectly in line with the University’s strategic plan to be a leader in economic development in northwest Ohio,” said Megan Reichert, director of incubation.
More incubator capacity is being created with a $2.2 million expansion of the Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator due to wrap up this summer. A third facility, for mixed-technology incubation, located between the Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator and Nitschke Hall, is scheduled to open in summer 2009; a fourth business incubator, focused on the biomedical industry sector, will open in the southern end of the Science and Technology Corridor on the Health Science Campus within the next six months.
“We’ve had companies that wanted to locate here in the past and the area hasn’t had the infrastructure these companies were looking for,” Reichert said. “Now we’re really ramping up.”
Incubators provide locations where entrepreneurs can develop and grow self-sufficient, successful companies with business assistance, competitive rents, and support in navigating the local, state and federal resources that are available to them. This helps the companies to become competitive more quickly than if they were developing on their own.
The incubators provide everything from office space to help with business and marketing plans through the College of Business Administration and other regional partners.
“Our goal is not to give companies a handout, but give them a hand up,” Reichert said. “We equip them to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace.”
Xunlight, Calyxo and Innovative Thin Films are all incubator graduates who are doing just that.
SuGanit Systems is a current tenant hoping to follow their lead.
This startup company, involved in the research and development of ethanol from biomass, relocated from Virginia.
“UT officials are interested in moving this field forward, the University is conducting exceptionally good research in the area, and the cooperation from faculty members has been impressive,” said Praveen Parapiti, president of SuGanit Systems, explaining his move to Toledo.
SuGanit Systems has hired a recent UT doctoral graduate full time, and it funds positions for three or four students each semester.
“They have a lot of energy and they’re eager to learn,” Parapiti said.
Reichert said the interaction between entrepreneurs and students is priceless.
“Fifty-one percent of people are employed by small businesses; they drive the economy,” Reichert said. “Working with incubator tenants teaches our students how a small company functions, which is critical to their success. Or if they work in a large company, they’ll know how to act as an ‘intrapreneur.’”
Expansion of the Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator includes six physics labs, infrastructure for more lab space to support the Wright Center for Photovoltaic Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC) and a 17,000-square-foot second floor for development of more office suites to support spin-off companies anticipated from the PVIC’s work.
Current incubation clients are ADG, Platform Labs, Ugly Data, Recombinant Innovation, H2 Engine Systems, SuGanit Systems and Sdudi. The Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator is also home to the Intermodal Transportation Institute, Green Energy Ohio’s Northwest Ohio Office, PVIC and the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio, a statewide consortium hosted by UT.
For updates and more detailed information about business incubation at UT, visit www.utoledo.edu/research/incubator.
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