With the economy heating up, there is renewed interest in expanding our regional economy by supporting the development of smaller, start-up, technology-based companies that will be part of our future economic base.
Here is some great news for those who think we need a business incubator for new technology companies: the Milwaukee area already has one that is nationally recognized and has proven to be highly successful. It has nurtured close to 100 businesses that have created over 1,000 new jobs. It currently has an abundance of room available for new, fledgling technology companies.
The business incubator at the Milwaukee County Research Park (MCRP), the Technology Innovation Center (TIC), recently "graduated" several of its technology companies that had grown to the point where they were too large for the incubator and needed more space to continue their growth. Like others before them, these graduates stayed in southeastern Wisconsin and continue to add to the state’s tax base.
Our past experience and success with nurturing technology companies has helped develop an environment and a support structure that is best suited to help these companies grow. Ask any of the 36 companies in the TIC or the 50 businesses that have graduated. They love the place.
Contrary to recent reports that the MCRP is "full," we are working diligently to attract new businesses to continue to drive Wisconsin’s job gains into 2005.
Our past experience and success with nurturing technology companies has helped develop an environment and a support structure that is best suited to help these companies grow. The success of our technology business incubator actually increases the space available to businesses in the MCRP.
The TIC, at 138,000 square feet, has an abundant amount of space (approximately 35,000 square feet) available, due to the graduation of three mature companies. A large portion of this vacancy is being converted to state-of-the-art laboratory space. Several new tenants have already been identified for this space, which is being renovated at a cost of over $700,000.
Past experience indicates that the 35,000 square feet available will eventually be home to 20 to 25 new start-up companies and is almost twice the 20,000 square feet reportedly proposed for a new incubator. Widely recognized best practices indicate that incubators as small as 20,000 square feet are not efficient or cost effective.
In addition to availability in the TIC, the research park has about 35 acres of undeveloped land available, which offers the opportunity for over 500,000 square feet of possible development. The largest available site, which is over 10 acres, could accommodate a building of approximately 150,000 square feet.
It should be clear: The MCRP has space available to accommodate new tenants due, in part, to the park’s success in maturing and "graduating" its tenants. It would seem that the logical place for a new bioscience company, should it be needed, would be the research park. The space is readily available and there is a preexisting cluster of biotechnology and information technology companies there.
The MCRP has been a monumental success story. In addition to the three recently graduated companies into the greater Milwaukee community, we have also made two notable acquisitions: GE Healthcare recently broke ground on the 500,000 square foot global headquarters of its Information Management, Information Technology, and Ultrasound divisions and we will soon welcome a new biotechnology company, ZyStor Therapeutics Inc., from St. Louis.
The Milwaukee County Research Park offers a unique opportunity to bioscience companies in a "major league" metro area and has the resources and space available to ensure this opportunity will be available for many years to come.
Guy Mascari is the director of development for the Milwaukee County Research Park.
January 21, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI
