Businesses pack Tech incubator

BYLINE: Nick Todaro

Open less than a month, Louisiana Tech University's Enterprise Center Humana Wing is all booked.

Keys are still arriving for suites in the Humana business incubator, located in the biomedical engineering building that opened May 4, and six companies have already claimed the space.

Four of the six Radiance Technologies, Avoyelles Energy, Beat Semiconductor and Nano Pulp and Paper are new. Two others Network Foundation Technologies and Sensacoil are moving from the Enterprise Center's main office space to the biomedical building's space.

Dave Norris, director of Tech's Enterprise Center, said the university's model for the setup is aimed at having companies incubate until ready to expand into a permanent home location.

"We get them to set up operation here because they want to grow that operation into a larger setup," Norris said. "Eventually, they will manufacture or develop something here that will employ people and have substantial presence."

Tech President Dan Reneau said the incubator filling up so quickly came as a surprise.

"This is a strong indicator for the need for a research park with business incubation," Reneau said. "We must take advantage of these opportunities for economic development."

Radiance Technologies develops technology for military and intelligence applications. The Alabama-based company is growing quickly, Norris said, and is working in conjunction with Tech professors Chester Wilson and Chad O'Neal on anti-tampering technology.

Avoyelles Energy, based in Louisiana, is working on the energy front. The company licensed a nanocatalyst developed by Wilson and Tech students in the Clean Fuel Solutions team, which won the Tech Top Dawg Business Plan Competition in April.

Norris said the company is not quite a startup. The stakeholders sold out of a previous energy company and reinvested in Avoyelles.

"Their interest is biomass, primarily wood chips now, but taking any kind of material and turning it into biofuels," Norris said. "They have a lot of backing and are very experienced; it's not your typical startup."

Beat Semiconductor, based in California, is similar to Avoyelles in that the company is not quite a typical startup. It has funding sources in Silicon Valley and is developing semiconductors in quartz and silicone. They will be working in tandem with Tech professor Ville Kaajakari.

Nano Pulp and Paper, a company with roots in work by Tech's Yuri Lvov, has leaped ahead in production of its technology, aimed at strengthening recycled paper fibers and making them more adhesive.

"Usually, recycled fibers are added to virgin fibers at about 30 percent," Lvov said. "We hope to increase that to about 50 percent."

An outside consulting firm is working with them, Norris said, and has taken the lead in marketing and generating business relationships for the technology.

Network Foundation Technologies is expanding with the move into the facility. Employees are being added, and the company has a number of contract employees, Norris said, and NFT is in a period of high growth.

Sensacoil, Tech professor Frank Ji's company, is developing sensors with environmental and industrial applications for detecting organophosphates.