Company guiding tech start-ups toward success
Posted on Sunday, July 16, 2006
A lot of people talk about wanting a knowledge-based industry, but the staff at Virtual Incubation Co. embodies the notion.
The technology development firm has spent the past three years helping clients gain funding and establish a business plan for success. Efforts have led to dozens of grants and even Frost & Sullivan 2005 Award for Excellence in Technology as the companies strive to enter production, but Virtual Incubation President Dr. Calvin Goforth is holding out on the feeling of achievement.
"The real trick is to make the transition into production, and two years from now these companies will be a lot larger than they are now, and that's when we'll have accomplished something," Goforth said.
Virtual Incubation develops new companies by partnering technology entrepreneurs with business experts, technology experts and seed stage investors. Twelve companies currently make up the firm's portfolio, with five of them joining in the past year.
As for the other seven, Goforth and his staff have helped them obtain a total of 37 grants - including Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants from the National Science Foundation - to help fund the various projects.
The result has been three startups preparing to go into production this year with the others following suit in 2007.
BlueInGreen LLC may be the closest to reaching that phase. It has been at work on designing and engineering a trailer-mounted Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen Injector to deliver dissolved oxygen to help maintain a healthy ecosystem.
Its staff is making arrangements to present its work this October in Dallas during WEFTEC 2006, the largest water quality event in North America.
Goforth expects BlueIn-Green's technological offerings to take off once in the marketplace, and joining them could be NanoMech LLC.
NanoMech has developed nanostructured cubic boron nitride coatings that can be applied to items such as cutting tools, wear parts and high-strength ceramics to create several effects, including wear resistance, self lubrication, corrosion resistance and bio-compatability. The coating led to Nano-Mech receiving in March the Excellence in Technology Award. Past recipients have included IBM, Lucent Technologies and Texas Instruments. Making the coating requires a customized space, requiring NanoMech to seek additional funding to establish a facility. Vegrandis LLC also expects to join its two peers in production this year as is continues work on the development of technology for the rapid detection of pathogens in the water supply.
Goforth foresees those infant companies establishing their bases in Fayetteville, furthering the ideal set forth by several community leaders that a future economy must be knowledge based.
"The fact is that manufacturing is certainly not staying in the United States and Fayetteville is not a manufacturing hub, so we need to be more competitive in the global market, and these companies are helping us get our foot in the door in that aspect," Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody said.
Coody sees technology-based industries aiding Fayetteville in several ways. They could lead more students and professors to the University of Arkansas, create job opportunities with higher than average incomes, and even help the city's bond rating by diversifying the economy, he said.
Steve Rust, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Economic Development Council, has been impressed enough with Virtual Incubation that he has nominated its president for the 2006 Tibbetts Award. The awards recognize small firms, individuals, organizations and projects that exemplify the business, economy and technological achievements of the federal Small Business Innovation Research program.
"You don't know how much impact somebody's going to have at this point when a company's just emerging, but looking at the awards they've received recently and the technology they're commercializing, I think they truly will continue to be successful," Rust said. "I can't lay enough praise on the business model Calvin has come up with. I think it's something that's going to be copied throughout the United States."
Goforth chose Fayetteville for his business largely because it's his hometown but also because it was home to a university with a rapidly progressing research institution that lacked the technology infrastructure, he said.
He opened in 2001 as a consulting firm but soon made the change to development firm.
"Clearly there was an infrastructure need, and clearly there was an opportunity," Goforth said.
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