Reneau: Tech to build park for research

BYLINE: Nick Todaro

Louisiana Tech University must develop a research park for the state's Interstate 20 corridor, university president Dan Reneau told The News-Star editorial board Wednesday.

Using the university's research developments for generating jobs is part of the public-service aspect of running a university, Reneau said, and he is selling the idea at the state level to bring in an estimated $20 million for the project.

"The state is quite interested," Reneau added.

Startup companies currently operating out of the university will "mature and be ready to move and develop into bigger facilities" by fiscal year 2008-09, he said.

Reneau mentioned Clemson University in South Carolina as a working example of what a university research park can do for a region.

Les Guice, head of research and development at Tech, said now is the time to catalyze growth.

"What's going to happen to the region in the long term if we don't attract high-growth, high-wage jobs?" Guice asked. "We have to do that to be competitive as a region, as a state and really as a nation."

He said one company in the business incubator at Tech, Network Foundation Technologies, is growing rapidly toward having 20 employees.

"What happens when it grows to 100?" Guice asked. "We don't have the environment for (the owner) to stay in the area."

Tech's plan calls for about 50 acres of land for the park.

Guice said Jay Guillot and the Ruston firm of Hunt Guillot and Associates is scouting appropriate locations.

"We're looking at things like how ready the site is for construction," Guice said. "Another question is, 'how convenient is it to campus?' You can't build something far from campus to be successful — typically about 10 minutes away is as far as you can get."

Guice said he has also engaged a firm from Virginia, George Henry George Partners, which has worked on research parks, to conduct a feasibility study for size and space options.

The goal is to have a few hundred thousand square feet of space in the first 10 years, and funds from the park would be used to further develop available space.

"This is not a money-making venture for the developers," Guice said. "This is about generating jobs."

He said his personal goal is to have six companies working out of the park within the first year.

Guice added that research parks in neighboring states will siphon away Louisiana college graduates if northern Louisiana doesn't create a local research center.

Research parks are being built in Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and other states, Guice said.

"Those types of places will be magnets for advanced technology companies if we as a state and region don't invest in this type of development," he said.'

Reneau said Tech's developments are a good indicator of the rapid research growth that needs space to further blossom.

"We're averaging 32 inventions a year," Reneau said. "That's more than four times the national average."

In fiscal year 2006, the university filed for 17 patents, was awarded four in the last three months and has signed more than 35 nondisclosure agreements, or contracts that outline information restricted from general use, with outside companies.

"We also negotiated six licensing options in 10 different technologies," Reneau said.

Guice said companies that come to the research park could always expand into the surrounding communities.

"They could locate in Shreveport or Monroe" or other cities as they develop their businesses, Guice said.

Those research firms will also attract companies to provide amenities for workers, so the possibilities for growth are strong, Guice said.