Last modified: Thursday, March 3, 2005
IU Emerging Technologies Center celebrates second anniversary
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana University Emerging Technologies Center will celebrate its second anniversary on Friday (March 4) well ahead of its initial schedule for occupancy.
The facility, which is located at 351 West 10th St. in downtown Indianapolis, houses 20 fledgling companies that occupy 85 percent of its 62,500 square feet of usable space, IUETC CEO and President Mark Long announced.
"It's filling up fast," Long said. The center, which anchors the north end of the downtown canal, opened its doors for business on March 4, 2003. Long and IU officials have been pleasantly surprised by the facility's success in attracting start-up businesses in the life sciences and high-tech sectors.
"The IUETC is over 85 percent full, and we continue to get quality applications from outstanding start-up companies every month, in addition to seeing many opportunities to create new start-ups from Indiana University technologies," Long said.
IU President Adam Herbert said the IUETC is helping Indiana move to a knowledge-based economy.
"We are very proud that the Indiana University Emerging Technologies Center is playing an increasingly more important and successful role in achieving Indiana's strategic economic development goals in the life sciences and information technology sectors," Herbert said.
The IUETC contains both office and laboratory space and has a maximum capacity of 23 to 25 companies.
Long says he expects IUETC to see at least two companies "graduate" and move into the commercial business marketplace this year. In addition, one company has been purchased by a larger out-of-state firm, but the headquarters of the purchased company will remain in Indianapolis. Every company that entered the building over the last two years is still viable, in business and doing well. The IUETC Advisory Board monitors company activity on a regular basis.
"We are highly selective regarding businesses that are accepted in the IUETC," Long said. "But our selectivity is based on choosing those businesses that we can best assist and those companies that have the best potential for growing the Indiana economy by producing job opportunities."
One of its most recent tenants is Miravant Medical Technologies, which moved to Indianapolis in Feburary from San Diego. Dr. Robert Scott, a former professor at the IU School of Medicine and former scientist at Eli Lilly and Company, is president of Miravant, a company that develops photo-optically activated compounds that attack vulnerable plaque in coronary arteries. Scott believes the IUETC was an ideal place to headquarter his company, and he is pleased to be back in Indiana.
Another new tenant is EndGenitor, an adult progenitor stem cell company headed by Dr. Mervin Yoder. The firm, Indiana's first entry into the stem cell development market, is already planning to expand into additional laboratory space next month.
The National Business Incubator Association reports that every 50 jobs created by an incubator client generate approximately 25 more jobs in the same community. Business incubators reduce the risk of small business failures. Historically, NBIA member incubators have reported that 87 percent of all firms that have graduated from their incubators are still in business
The IU Emerging Technologies Center is part of the Indianapolis Certified Technology Park. The IUETC is owned and operated by the IU Research and Technology Corporation.
To speak with Long, call 317-278-1901 or e-mail mslong@iu.edu.
