High Tech Rochester joins UR to aid startups' success

The University of Rochester is assuming control of High Tech Rochester Inc., an organization formed 20 years ago to stimulate technology business growth.

The change in control, from a partnership that included the city of Rochester and Nixon Peabody LLP, means HTR will become a subsidiary of the university, officials said. The change was announced Thursday.

Other partners are stepping back from direct control but keeping a role on HTR's board of directors, which will expand to include venture capitalists, academic institutions and others, officials said.

The shift could help UR spin out more companies, officials said.

HTR provides consulting services on business development and runs separate incubators for technology and biotech start-ups. The organization will continue to serve startups whether or not they are tied to UR, said Peter Robinson, chief operating officer at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Organizers of the shift hope it will serve several purposes: First, it formalizes what has become the strongest relationship for HTR - with UR researchers, who engage in most of the projects leading to commercialization locally, HTR president Paul Wetenhall said.

That may raise the comfort level of university researchers and others, and it could help the organization connect with UR alumni worldwide, he said. It also could strengthen UR's economic development capacity.

"It takes HTR out of being a relatively small, freestanding (organization) into one that's aligned with an institution that will be here 50 years from now," Wetenhall said. "From the standpoint of others in the community, it really cements HTR as a part of the community infrastructure."

Further, expansion of the board will bring the valuable perspective of investors and innovators, Wetenhall said.

Members of the organization had been UR, the city, Monroe County, Nixon Peabody, the Rochester Business Alliance Inc., Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation.

The shift to UR control means a natural pathway will become more sophisticated, said Sandra Parker, RBA president and chief executive. Organizations such as RBA will not lose a voice in the organization, but HTR could become more diversified with a larger board, she added.

Wetenhall, who became president of HTR four years ago after serving as venture coach and helping to run its Lennox Tech Enterprise Center incubator since 1997, said HTR had been working more and more with the university.

"As we had more day-to-day interaction with the university, at the same time, the university was paying more and more attention to economic development," he said. "It struck us: If we were part of the university, that would really give HTR a form of validation that would be really important to the researchers at the university."

HTR has developed over the past 20 years from a concept of promoting economic development within the community to a $2.5 million organization with 15 full-time-equivalent employees. It operates the Lennox Tech incubator and UR's new biotech incubator in Henrietta.

The original partners were UR, the former Rochester chamber of commerce - now part of RBA - and Rochester Institute of Technology. Officials said they hope to establish stronger connections with RIT, which should happen comfortably since researchers at the two schools often collaborate.

UR does not expect to take on more expenses with HTR, Robinson said. HTR, a non-profit, runs mostly on revenues collected from fees associated with consulting, which includes coaching for manufacturers and from rent collected from companies in the incubator. The partners each have contributed a nominal donation and will continue to do so, Robinson said.

"What we're seeing actually is that HTR has some significant tech commercialization expertise," Robinson said. "By bringing them closer to us, a little more internally with the university, we'll be more efficient in the way we participate in technology commercialization. In turn, there will be more companies spinning out."

HTR helps researchers or others with orphan technology to determine whether an idea has commercial potential, how to get early-stage funding through grants or private investments and specialized advice on how to build a business, Wetenhall said.

He and a partner could have used its services in the late 1980s, Wetenhall noted, when they formed Microlytics Inc., a software company based on Xerox Corp. technology, where he used to work.

"We were hardworking, reasonably bright guys," Wetenhall said. "We were big-company people. We did some things right but made a whole bunch of mistakes. In that era, there was no place in town to go for specialized, sophisticated help."

Wetenhall since has played a role in two other software startups and began consulting for HTR when it launched the Lennox incubator. That incubator now serves several emerging companies and has provided help to established companies such as rapidly growing New Scale Technologies Inc. in Victor, which makes products such as tiny motors for telephoto lenses in cell phones.