Innovation Works celebrated

Jan. 18--Andrew Chomos is a walking advertisement for Innovation Works, a state-funded organization that helps young Western Pennsylvania companies get on their feet with direct investment and hands-on support.

"We couldn't have done it without Innovation Works," said Chomos, CEO of Caracal Inc., a 3-year-old company based in former PPG Industries Inc. space at Ford City in Armstrong County, producing silicon carbide wafers used in the semiconductor industry.

"We received our first funding from Innovation Works in late 2004, $100,000, that eventually became $800,000. Every year we've had increased sales, last year we had $2 million in sales," Chomos said. The company employs 12.

Success stories like Caracal were in abundance Thursday in the Pittsburgh Technology Council's lobby at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland, as more than 20 CEOs of companies assisted by Innovation Works joined with politicians and staff to celebrate two milestones for the organization. The organization in 1999 succeeded the Ben Franklin Partnership of Western Pennsylvania.

Innovation Works last year invested in the 100th company since 1999, and its portfolio of technology-related firms last year garnered $117 million in follow-up investment from private and other sources. Seventeen companies were added to Innovation Works' portfolio in 2007, the most in its nine-year existence.

"Innovation Works has proven to be a statewide leader in early-stage technology investment," said state Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky.

Jay Katarincic, a managing partner with venture capital firm Draper Triangle Ventures, said Innovation Works is one of the organizations in the region that has perfected what he called the "model" to convert entrepreneurial ideas into thriving companies.

"We built the model in Western Pennsylvania, to take research at one of our higher learning institutions, turn that research into companies and then get them into the private sector," Katarincic said. ""That creates local jobs and puts wealth back into the local economy. In the other cities where we operate, they are trying to emulate the model that we have here."

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