2006 WAS A BANNER YEAR FOR THE INNOVATION CENTER!
Mouse over the stars above to see a constellation of memorable events.
2006 OUTSTANDING FOR THE INNOVATION CENTER
We completed our first full year on the Innovation Campus — a 55-acre Certified Technology Park located adjacent to IPFW and the new Ivy Tech North campus.
We positioned ourselves as a best-in-class leader assisting both emerging and existing companies in executing their development plans and accelerating their growth.
We continued to invest in quality infrastructure through our ISO9001:2000 designation, our quality management system, and our development and implementation of Balanced Scorecard techniques to identify and assess the business and organizational metrics that support and guide our efforts. (We practice what we preach, and it works!)
NIIC COMPANIES SWEEP "BEST PLAN" COMPETITION
For the third straight year, Innovation Center clients won the top 3 prizes in the Purdue Opportunity for Indiana business plan competition. With $50,000 in prize money awarded this year, our winning clients have been able to make strategic investments in people, technology, and product development.
$3.3MM IN 21st CENTURY AWARDS FOR NIIC COMPANIES
Two of our companies were recipients of 21st Century Science and Technology Fund awards. This prestigious and highly competitive fund awarded $3.3 Million to our client companies to support their product development and commercialization efforts.
TWO NIIC COMPANIES PARTNER FOR SECURITY VENTURE
TrustBearer Labs, part of Identity Alliance, LLC, and Forward Engineering, LLC announced a partnership to provide commercial authentication and security solutions for customers nationally. This is significant for Northeast Indiana, as it indicates our region's growth in leading-edge computer and Internet technologies in general, and in security and authentication technologies in particular. Both companies are Innovation Center residents.
ZOOM GETS IOWA CONTRACT
ZOOM Information Systems has been awarded a contract from the Iowa Department of Transportation to provide wireless internet connectivity at all 39 rest areas in the state. This technology allows motorists, fleets and Iowa DOT employees to connect to the Internet via their laptops or other wireless communication devices while visiting any of the state's rest areas. The contract is the first state-wide implementation of ZOOM's ARTIIS technology, funded from a State of Indiana grant.
ANGELS SMILE ON NIIC COMPANIES
Several of our client companies have commenced angel investment rounds of financing. We expect two of these companies will achieve their subscription levels and private equity round in 2007 to complete work on their products and recruit additional management team for 2008 product introductions. Both clients have term sheets and are in the process of formalizing their Private Placement Memorandums and first closing.
With the AdVenture Fund, the Alliance, and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the NIIC hosted four angel breakfast events to showcase both high technology and high touch business opportunities. These events are underwritten by the Northeast Indiana Corporate Council, and give entrepreneurs high visibility exposure to potential angel investors.
CIRRUS ABS SPINS WEB FOR REGIONAL TEAM
When the Regional Marketing Partnership selected its Web site team, it didn't have to look too far. It selected two firms - ED Solutions, Inc. and Cirrus ABS. ED Solutions of Columbus, Ohio specializes in creating technology applications for economic development programs and will lead the internet strategy. Strategy implementation will be the responsibility of Cirrus ABS, a Fort Wayne-based web development firm with more than 11 years experience in the e-business arena. Cirrus is currently a client of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.
NIIC WAS A BUSINESS NEWS "REGULAR" ALL YEAR
We had a plethora of media mentions both for the progress of the Innovation Center, and for our clients. We continue to garner not only local, and statewide attention, but national exposure within the incubation community for innovative and client-centered programs. The Innovation Center's President and CEO was a featured speaker at the National Business Incubation Association's Fall Training Institute, where he spoke on the topic of Metrics Matter: Measuring the Incubator. Here were some representative headlines:
Inventor Celebration Looks to Keep New Technology Local
- Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, November 13-19, 2006
A Place to Start: Indiana's Tech Parks Provide An Environment for New Ventures
- Indiana Business, December 2006
Leveraging Major Moves with Indiana Technology: Zoom into the Future
- Upstate Indiana Business Journal, November 2006
Knee-fix Method is Winning Plan
- Journal Gazette, December 2, 2006
Room to Grow: Huntington Incubator Offer Support to Young Firms
- Journal Gazette, September 13, 2006
Tech Grants Help Local Firms Bone up on Joint, Tissue Repair
- Journal Gazette, November 2, 2006
15 NEW COMPANIES JOIN THE NIIC FAMILY
In 2006, we added 15 new companies as resident clients of the new Innovation Center Campus. This strong influx of new high-growth and high-potential clients added even more diversity to our client mix and greater breadth to our portfolio of companies in the market sectors we serve. With the support of the Alliance, we have been able to provide some powerful entrepreneurial start-up incentives that have helped several of our new clients hit the ground running. Today, we boast 25 residential clients and 4 affiliates. The breakdown of residents is as follows:
- 10 in the biomedical and health care innovation sector (5 of which are new since 1/1/06.)
- 15 in the information technology and diversified technology sector (6 of which are new since 1/1/06.)
TWO NIIC COMPANIES WON "MOST INNOVATIVE" AWARDS
Two of our resident companies won "Most Innovative" accolades in the 2006 Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly Innovation Awards. Schwartz Biomedical won Best Healthcare and Zoom Information Systems won Best Technology.
RAYTHEON CAMPUS CLOSES, NEW CAMPUS GROWS
We closed and consolidated our assets from our Innovation Center @ Raytheon campus to the new Innovation Center Campus. Not only did we save about $75,000 in redundant infrastructure costs, and we also accelerated occupancy levels to nearly 74% in our first 15 months at the new campus. This puts us at least two years ahead of our internal projections. We expect to complete 2007 with an occupancy rate over 90%.
OCRA GRANT EXPANDS NIIC TO HUNTINGTON COUNTY
HCUED was awarded a follow-on grant of nearly $150,000 from the Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs (matched with a grant from the Huntington County Commissioners of $37,500) to provide rural entrepreneurship support to Huntington County. This unique collaboration is a statewide model of cooperation and innovation in service delivery that leverages regional strengths but does so by building on local assets.
NIIC is one of several partners in the OCRA project. Other partners include the Huntington County United Economic Development Corporation (HCUED), Huntington University, the Huntington County Commissioners, the Huntington County Chamber of Commerce, and the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
NIIC HOSTED FIRST INVENTORS RECOGNITION NIGHT
Through the support of the Lincoln Financial Group Foundation, we hosted an Inventor's Celebration with over 70 inventors from Northeast Indiana recognized at this special event. This successful celebration focused on recognizing the inventors and innovators whose patent activity is the most important indicator for the strength of new business formation in our community. We celebrated these inventors, and championed the building of infrastructure to support these pioneers in making their dreams a reality. Through this effort, the group formed a chapter of the Indiana's Inventors Club that will now meet monthly at the Innovation Center.
"LIVE, WORK & LEARN" VISION REALIZED
We completed our campus master plan vision — Live, Work, & Learn. This 55 acre campus will be a place where life, work and learning converge and thrive. A place that attracts and develops brilliant and creative minds, industrious people and growing companies that generate great, economy-driving innovations. This campus will be a place where people can live, work and learn, and love it.
With the new Ivy Tech North and expansion of IPFW on the former Fort Wayne State Development Center property, our unique 55 acre campus forms a strong foundation and anchor for the development of a "high tech corridor for Northeast Indiana". We will begin to execute and market this comprehensive master plan in 2007 and beyond.
ICOR WON $.5MM SBA GRANT
The International Center of Orthopedics Research (ICOR) received a $500,000 grant through the US Small Business Administration (SBA) and the leadership of our Congressional delegation. ICOR is a dedicated effort of the Innovation Center and the Alliance to seek out and encourage biotechnology growth in Northeast Indiana. This grant will support the operational and programming expenses of the Innovation Center's biomedical. Since the inception of the Center, we have received over $2.8 Million in Federal appropriations, of which this grant is the latest example.
INNOVATION & EXPLORATION THINK TANK ESTABLISHED
We received a multi-year financial commitment of $100,000 to establish the English-Bonter-Mitchell Foundation Innovation & Exploration Lab. Growth oriented companies, whether established or emerging, need to launch new products and services to prosper. This unique "think tank" and product innovation accelerator will provide these product-driven companies the physical infrastructure and the human touch they need to develop ideas, tools, and plans. To further this effort, we also received a technology grant from IBM that included 3 additional laptops for the Lab.
CENTER FUNDING REACHED $826,000 IN 2006
We received a total of $825,981.07 in grants and contributions in 2006 supporting both the general operations and specific program initiatives of the Innovation Center. We also renewed our fee-for-service contracts with our municipal and county government partners, making 2006 a very funding-friendly year for the Innovation Center. Thanks to all for your continued support. At the same time, we increased our self-sustainability by improving our fee-for-service capacity. Service fees now account for 35% of our total 2006 revenue, a jump from 13% (excluding capital) at year end 2005.
SIMULATED STERILE HOSPITAL BOOSTS RFID
In conjunction with the City of Fort Wayne, The Alliance, and Solstice Medical, we have established a RFID validation lab in a simulated sterile reprocessing hospital environment which will allow development and testing of RFID-enabled Class I, II and III surgical devices. This service to safely validate RFID-enabled surgical devices before they enter the healthcare environment while concurrently evaluating the latest RFID tag and reader technology is a unique capability with potential cost savings to our customers. We expect to be operational by mid-February 2007.
NEARLY 4,000 GUESTS & VISITORS HOSTED
In 2006 we welcomed over 3,900 guests and visitors to the Center. These guests were here to attend classes, workshops, strategic planning retreats, corporate meetings, service clubs, business leads groups, community outreach events, investor presentations, board meetings, and other special events. In 2006, we truly became the community's Innovation Center.
TRIO OF CONSULTING & FEASIBILITY PROJECTS
In 2006, we launched three consulting and feasibility projects for area customers:
- Ivy Tech — Workforce Demand for Power Plant and Aviation Mechanics
- Public Safety Academy — Best Practices in Emergency Responder Training and Demand Forecasts
- City of Bluffton — Feasibility Study of Area Assets for Specialized Incubation Programs
Studies like these not only leverage the Innovation Center's expertise, credibility, and capability but also serve to further our mandate for regional economic development. Some of these studies have expanded into 2007, and we look forward to adding more studies for other clients in the coming year. The Innovation Center is not only helping to shape the future of our region, we're also helping others define what that future will look like.
TAYLOR MBA PROGRAM "ON THE GROW"
We are justifiably proud of our relationship with Taylor University's MBA program. This unique and innovative program has grown to 62 MBA students in just 3 years. A second location is planned for Indianapolis in January, 2007 and future growth may extend the program to locations outside the United States.
NIIC / IPFW PARTNERSHIP EXPANDED
We are the host location for the IPFW Office of Engagement, a joint collaboration of IPFW, Purdue University, Indiana University, and the business community. This office focuses on making connections and bridging the gaps between academia, technology transfer, and the business community. In addition:
- We entered into a strategic relationship with the IPFW Center for Industrial Innovation and Design to assist our clients with their prototyping and soft modeling requirements.
- We developed a working relationship with the IPFW RFID Lab, which is providing innovative services and solutions for warehousing, distribution, and logistics.
- We also host the Entrepreneurship and Corporate Training office of IPFW Continuing Studies.
The linkages between Life, Work and Learning just keep getting stronger.
IVY TECH / NIIC: NEW NEIGHBORS, NEW PARTNERS
Our newest connections/partnerships in higher education include Ivy Tech. We host their Workforce and Economic Development team, and the Innovation Center is supporting their Strategic Skills initiative grant for the formation and operation of an Advanced Manufacturing Institute of Excellence. This Institute will focus on training of CNC operators for the orthopedics industry.
This project also established an eighteen-person computer lab in addition to the specialized equipment located within the Biomedical Technology wing of the Innovation Center. This is the start of a tremendously synergistic relationship with Ivy Tech's new Technology Center opening right next door in 2010 or 2011 that will provide access to over $3 Million of specialized equipment for our clients.
WE'RE STARTING OUR FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS YOUNG
And K-12 is not too young to learn the vast potential of the entrepreneurial life! We have supported the Upper Wabash Valley Superintendent's Study Council this past year. The Council is a group of 20 K-12 Superintendents from the Northeast Indiana area whose focus is to identify the systemic issues inhibiting greater success in their schools and then make the changes in their districts for greater student achievement. The Innovation Center remains vigilant and deeply committed in its role in changing the future of education to address the future of work including more young people starting their own business and not just going to work for a larger and more established business. The Center has facilitated dialog and discussion with community leaders and the Superintendent's to investigate and think about how to change our traditional learning methods to incorporate more innovative and leading edge delivery methods to better inspire young people.
In the future, education will increasingly be preparing students to make a job, not just take a job. We're fostering that transformation now.
WE DO OUR PART FOR NATIONAL HOMELAND SECURITY
One of our hard-charging residents — Identity Alliance, LLC — answered our country's call by helping write the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specifications for the new biometric-capable Smart ID Card mandated by the president for all government agencies. Identity Alliance helped the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and twenty other federal agencies meet the October, 2006 deadline for implementing the rollout of this new security requirement. More importantly for us here at home, national attention has been turned on Northeast Indiana as a significant player in the boom industries of security and identification authentication.
VENTURE WORKS WORKSHOPS PREP POTENTIAL PARTNERS & HUNTINGTON INCUBATOR OPENS
In conjunction with Venture Works, the new NIIC-partnered small business incubator in Huntington County, NIIC personnel presented a one-day seminar and workshop on the popular One Page Business Plan. The seminar, taught by Karl LaPan and Remound Wright, prepared the attendees for an exercise in discovery — does their "big idea" really have business-building potential? For those who answered "Yes," the seminar not only gave them a head start, but it also prepared them for the more comprehensive business plan approach used at the Innovation Center, which is based on the book Writing A Winning Business Plan co-authored by NIIC executives, Karl LaPan and Steve Franks. These workshops and seminars are entrepreneurial evangelism in action, and we plan more of them in 2007 and beyond.
At the same time, in September 2006, we opened a small incubator at Huntington University. A 700 sq foot home owned by Huntington University serves as the Venture Works incubator. This facility can host 2 companies. Innovation Mapping, a full service geographic information system company, is the first resident in this facility.