OKC Business
It has been 10 years since a public-private partnership began
leveraging local strengths into business and job growth for
Norman.
The Norman Economic Development Coalition formed by the
University of Oklahoma, the City of Norman and the Norman Chamber
of Commerce, has developed a business park, drawn some major
employers to town and helped existing businesses grow.
One of NEDC’s achievements is a specialized business
incubator, which creates jobs from advanced technology, including
research projects spun off by OU. The Emerging Technology
Entrepreneurial Center in Norman’s historic Campus Corner
district was organized about seven years ago.
Since then, the “eTec accelerator” has graduated a
dozen companies, most moving to other locations in Norman.
Seeking potential
NEDC Executive Director Don Wood said eTec is part of a balanced
economic development strategy.
“We don’t just recruit new companies and help existing
employers reach their goals,” Wood said. “We work on
startup companies with the potential to become major employers in
Norman.”
To preserve Norman’s quality of life and capitalize on the
city’s labor pool, eTec has concentrated on attracting
“smokeless industry” – companies that generate
well-paying technical jobs.
Currently, 11 startup companies occupy eTec’s 10,000-square-foot building.
“We’re at 100 percent occupancy,” Wood said.
“We’re exploring the possibility of a grant from the
Economic Development Administration to help us add a second story
to the eTec Building.”
The added eTec space would fill quickly, he believes.
For rents averaging about $16 a square foot, eTec tenants get furnished offices and suites with high speed wiring and data ports, paid utilities, parking, central office services including copying, fax and audiovisual equipment, a business library and conference room. Among available services are mentoring by business experts, help with financial, marketing and sales functions and access to private investors, venture capital companies and revolving loan pools.
Another substantial benefit is a state income tax exemption for
incubated company revenues for up to 10 years.
There is no established time limit for occupying eTec, Wood
said.
“Most companies have been averaging two and a half to three
years here. They usually move when they need more
space.”
One such “graduate” is SouthWest Nanotechnologies, or
SWENT, a company that manufactures single wall carbon nanotubes
using technology licensed through OU. Carbon nanotubes, microscopic
in size and 100 times stronger than steel, are used to develop new
products for computers, electronics and health care delivery
systems.
SWENT, now in its fifth year, operates from a building in a Norman industrial park.
“We benefited from all the infrastructure, networking and contacts at eTec,” said SWENT’s Dan Davis. “We’re selling all of our nanotubes to Fortune 100 companies.”
He said NEDC is helping his company develop plans to build a new
research and production plant in Norman.
Planning, support
valued
Networking opportunities in Norman and expert business
counseling were eTec’s biggest advantages for Vicki Rose, who
operates Atmospheric Technology Services Company.
She said Wood and his staff “went over our business plan
and was very supportive” to help her company get
established.
The company operates government weather monitoring sites and
conducts research for weather modeling.
Not all eTec value is immediately apparent. Mike Eilts, a
meteorologist and founder of Weather Decision Technologies, said
high quality, reasonably priced office space was what first
interested him in eTec. WDT, which develops customized weather
forecasts for weather-sensitive industries, was an eTec tenant for
about three years. The company is now located in Two Partners
Place, a new building on OU’s Research Campus.
Eilts said he came to value eTec’s connections to resources
and support that helped him “think things through” during
his company’s formative years. WDT has grown from 20 employees
two years ago to 38 today.
“We just closed a big deal for Dubai Airport, a turnkey
system for predicting all types of bad weather,” he
said.
Collaboration
location
Among current eTec tenants is Ekips Technologies Inc., a company
that develops, manufactures and markets lasers and laser-based
systems.
Carl Gibson, with EKIPS since 2002, said the company benefits
from eTec’s range of services and its location near OU. Ekips
employs OU postdoctoral students to collaborate on research
projects. “We were tired of shipping graduates to the East and
West coasts,” Gibson said.
Ekips, founded by OU electrical engineering professor Patrick
McCann, recently was issued a patent for a method to identify
“biomarkers” in exhaled breath. The method is used in the
company’s trademarked “Breathmeter” used to detect
cancer, infectious diseases and other ailments through breath
analysis.
Agi Lurtz operates Online Medsource, an Internet-based medical
records service. Her company has been an eTec tenant since January
of last year. She said she is in no hurry to move.
“Being near other startup companies is the biggest
advantage,” she said. “We feed off each other. I
can’t think of one negative.”
Wood acknowledges not every business at eTec will succeed. Some
business models are flawed and some individuals operate better in
joint ventures than in companies, he said.
He recalls a Global Image Satellite-related business started by two professors. “They wanted to stay college professors instead of operating a business,” he said. “We’re looking to sell the technology to somebody who will market it.”
