VCET to Collaborate With Business Incubator Network to Promote Economic
Development Statewide
Senator Patrick Leahy, Governor James Douglas, and University of Vermont
president Daniel Mark Fogel announced March 29, 2004, the launch of the Vermont Center for
Emerging Technologies, a multi-faceted initiative that will play a
crucial role in diversifying Vermont’s economy and boosting economic
development in the state.
Senator Leahy secured an appropriation of $1 million to help launch the
center, which will be located in Farrell Hall on the Trinity College
campus of the University of Vermont.
VCET is a targeted small business development program designed to foster
the success of new high-growth, high technology firms in Vermont. The
initiative is designed to leverage UVM’s scientific and technological
expertise and specialty laboratory facilities and equipment, linking
client companies to key faculty at the university and other academic
institutions in the state; to an extensive network of private sector
mentors and advisors; to private investment capital resources; and to
staff and student interns from the state’s academic institutions.
While the initial VCET site will offer office space for select client
companies, plans call for a second phase of development that will provide
access to a larger real estate component with flexible multi-tenant
office, laboratory, and light production space. VCET also intends to
collaborate with a wide-ranging network of existing and planned business
incubators in Vermont to promote business formation and economic
development statewide.
“Our state faces many challenges, but perhaps none more important than
maintaining our leadership in innovation and high technology,” said Leahy.
“The Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies and the other Vermont
incubators will tap the technology potential that we have in Vermont and
transform that into jobs.”
“This center is a critical catalyst for Vermont’s economic development
efforts,” said Governor Douglas. “It takes the innovative concepts of
Vermonters and turns them into quality jobs.”
“UVM has a key role to play as a driver of economic development in
Vermont,” said Fogel. “VCET will enable us, for the first time, to truly
harness the power of our research enterprise, the talent of our faculty
and students, and the array of high tech labs and equipment we offer to
help build a robust economy throughout Vermont and create jobs for
Vermonters.”
“Vermont’s statewide higher education community is one of its strongest
assets,” said L. Fred Hackett, vice chairman of Hackett Valine & MacDonald
and Yankee Insurance Group and chair of the VCET board. “VCET will enable
us to tap the power of that resource for the benefit of Vermonters across
the state. With UVM’s research funding growing each year and the combined
support of the business and higher ed communities and state and federal
government, the time is right to move forward with this vitally important
enterprise.”
Steep Rise in Research Dollars at UVM
UVM has seen a steep rise in the amount of research funding it has
received from federal grants and contracts in recent years, with dollars
rising from just over $60 million in 1998 to nearly $120 million in 2003.
With the VCET support infrastructure in place, this research should
present significant technology transfer opportunities, resulting in new
products and new companies to bring them to market, said Frances Carr,
vice president for research and graduate studies at UVM.
“In the past three years, UVM has issued nearly 80 invention disclosures
and licensed 26 patents,” she said. “VCET should help us build on that
strong base and see a significant amount of new activity.”
According to the Association of University Technology Managers, over 450
companies were created nationally via technology transfer from university
research efforts in fiscal year 2000, with eight of ten in geographic
proximity to the institution where the founding technologies were
created.
VCET and other business incubator projects are part of the Douglas
administration’s comprehensive strategy to foster business innovation and
growth in Vermont. To date $500,000 in state funding has been
appropriated to support incubator initiatives, and Governor Douglas is
requesting an additional $125,000 in his FY05 budget specifically for
VCET.
In addition to VCET, other technology incubators in the state include the
Bennington Microtechnology Center; Middlebury College’s Digital Bridges;
Diamond Edge Technology Incubator in Windsor; the Marlboro College
Technology Center in Brattleboro; the National Center for the Study of
Counter-Terrorism and CyberCrime in Northfield; the Springfield
Sustainable Technology Business Incubator in Springfield; and the Vermont
Business Resource Center and Technology Business Incubator in Randolph.
VCET will be a key component of a UVM-based umbrella organization called
the Vermont Innovation Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. The
alliance, a partnership that includes the state’s economic development
entities, its academic institutions, and groups like the Vermont
Technology Council, is designed to serve as a portal to UVM, accelerating
technology commercialization, promoting entrepreneurship, and enhancing
research effectiveness by breaking down institutional barriers and
improving communications and collaboration between businesses, government,
and academic institutions statewide.
The new Vermont Business Center, a joint effort of UVM’s School of
Business Administration and its Continuing Education division, will serve
as educational partner for VCET. VBC is developing a special
entrepreneurship curriculum to support VCET.
The Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies will be developed as a
separately incorporated not-for-profit entity (501©3) closely affiliated
with UVM and other strategic partners around the state.
For more information about VCET and the services it offers, call (800)
639-3188.