New jobs incubating atop mesa

BYLINE: J. Ferguson, The Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff

Apr. 23--City officials are pinning their hopes on the $3.6 million business incubator to help spur a new wave of scientific-based businesses locally.

Set to open in 18 months, the Technology and Business Incubator hopes to foster the dreams of scientific researcher, helping them develop their ideas into marketable products.

The 10,000-square-foot facility will be built on the U.S. Geological Survey campus on McMillan Mesa, part of a larger, planned Science and Technology Park.

The technology incubator building will be part of a 200,000-square-foot "Innovation Campus," approved by city voters May 2004 with a $62 million bond to support the redevelopment of the USGS campus. The bonds are to be paid off with government lease payments to the city.

With room to accommodate as many as a dozen companies, the incubator will help the scientific brainpower in Flagstaff become more entrepreneurial.

Officials hope researchers from the nation's largest medical device company, W. L. Gore, working alongside pathogen expert Paul Keim at the recently opened TGen North, as well as researchers working at NAU and USGS, will bring their ideas to the incubator.

Statistics from incubators nationwide show 87 percent of startup businesses that use the service are alive after three years, while about 50 percent of those who don't are no longer afloat.

Having a location to house what is currently a virtual incubator is expected to extend those statistics to Flagstaff, as well as create high-paying jobs in bioscience and technology for Northern Arizona.

The community already has had some success with established local scientists spinning off their own companies, most notably Machine Solutions, the brainchild of two former W.L. Gore employees.

Recently, noted anthrax researcher and director of TGen North Paul Keim, "let the cat out of the bag" that pathogen research at the laboratory would eventually spin off into private companies.

According to Community Investment Director Michael Kerski, a good bet for future businesses housed at the incubator is the development of new energy technologies.

During a meeting before the city council last week, Kerski said with only eight incubators in the nation certified for energy research, Flagstaff could be eligible millions in federal research projects from both the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.

"The Department of Defense is one of the largest investors in incubation-type businesses in the country to the tune of about 3 to 4 billion a year. So if we can put that in our mission then it opens a whole new path for potential funding for the clients for the incubator," Kerski said.

As the only science and technology incubator in Arizona, Kerski believes instate research would be funneled to the incubator.

The incubator is primarily funded through a $2.5 million federal economic development grant, transferred from NAU to the city of Flagstaff last year.

The city has committed another $1.1 million toward the project.

Kerski said the project is going through some last-minute engineering to incorporate some green building designs and is expected to go out to bid this summer, with construction of incubator starting in August.

"The project will be finished a year from August," Kerski said.

Attending the National Business Incubation Association convention earlier this month, Kerski said he received input from attendees on renaming the science and technology park to a "Innovation Campus."

"Worldwide, that is what an incubator, a science park and government facility are called," said Kerski.

Mayor Joe Donaldson added the use of the term was a misnomer, saying he did not want to equate new cutting edge scientific businesses with chickens.

"We are not incubating chickens," Donaldson said.

Councilmember Kara Kelty, who was skeptical when city staff brought the proposal forward to the council last year, complimented city staff's work.

"You did a phenomenal job of turning this around," said Kelty.

Linking the incubator to the recent opening of the TGen North facility, Kelty said the city has had a string of success in economic development projects.

To see more of The Arizona Daily Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azdailysun.com. Copyright (c) 2007, The Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.