case where technologies left the state and the brain power
went with it,” Perry says. “There has been a slowing of
that because there has been a good infusion of capital.
Technology is being funded at unprecedented levels.”
Talent Trumps All
And while business factors, such as access to venture
capital are important to the industry, its strongest asset is
brain power. “Those communities with nearby research
universities benefit from the natural pipeline these institutions create,” Kazmierczak says.
This model can be seen in Georgetown, Texas, located 20
miles from downtown Austin, home to the University of
Texas. Georgetown is home to the Texas Life Sciences
Collaboration Center, a facility with a niche in serving high-tech companies, with a bent toward nanotech firms. The
center specializes in housing companies that are just emerging but are beyond the incubation stage and starting to
develop significant commercial revenue and create jobs, says
Russ Peterman, executive director, Texas Life Sciences
Collaboration Center. The center offers tenants shared services,
wet labs, and will offer a Class 100 nanotech clean room.
Georgetown’s location provides not only access to
the University of Texas but also access to other research
universities in the state. The center’s officials recently
Texas, such as universities and private industry, to work
together to commercialize new technologies.
Another area of the country where partnership activities
grow the high-tech industry is Fort Smith, Ark. The community is home to an active manufacturers’ association, which
meets monthly. “There is a spirit of help and cooperation,
where ideas are shared,” says Tom Manskey, president
and CEO, Greater Fort Smith Regional Chamber of
Commerce. “They share ideas on manufacturing efficiencies,
such as lean manufacturing; how to cut costs for electricity
and so on.” Manskey says Fort Smith is the manufacturing
capitol of the Mid-South, which is comprised of a variety
of advanced manufacturing companies. He says that there
is a great infrastructure of advanced manufacturing that
already exists, as well as access to a skilled labor force.
“Not to mention local education institutions have catered
to the advanced manufacturing population, designing
course work to assist local companies with their training,”
Manskey says.
Examples of these relationships include Exide
Technologies, which has a battery facility in Fort Smith,
and which worked with the University of Arkansas-Fort
Smith on training efforts. What's more, Baldor Electric
Co., based in Fort Smith, a large manufacturer of electronic
motors and generators, works closely with the university
“RATHER THAN LOSING, I THINK THE AUSTIN REGION BENEFITS BY
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEXT WAVE OF TECHNOLOGY.”
— RUSS PETERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
TEXAS LIFE SCIENCES COLLABORATION CENTER
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Texas
A&M System Health Science Center, which is building
the state’s first new medical school in several years.
“There is a lot of collaboration in Texas, including making
the nanotech industry successful,” Peterman says. “Everyone
is focused on doing things smart, working together, creating
labs and alliances so that we are not competing, although
there is always some competition in research.”
One newer initiative is the Texas Technology Initiative,
which is a proposal that would create a state lab, most
likely in Austin, which would focus on the convergence of
the semiconductor industry with the biotech and medical
nanotech industries.
There are a few possible facilities available in Austin,
including the former Sematech facilities. Sematech, a
semiconductor research consortium, moved many of its
operations to Albany, N.Y. “Rather than losing, I think the
Austin region benefits by looking ahead to the next wave
of technology and that will certainly be nanoelectronics,
nanomaterials, nanomedicine and advanced energy technologies,” Peterman says.
Officials at the Texas Life Sciences Collaboration Center
also aim to create a formal arrangement with the Alliance
for NanoHealth, which was created by the University of
Texas’ Biomedical Engineering Department. The alliance
aims to bring together all the health science capabilities in
in regard to workforce and training issues. In fact, the
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, is home to the Baldor
Technology Center.
Pittsburg State University is home to the Kansas
Polymer Research Center, located in the Tyler Research
Center, which has a niche in providing the building
blocks for industrial products from renewable resources,
primarily from soybean oil. “We developed the first industrial grade soy-based oil polyols, a building block for
polyurethane flexible and rigid foams,” says Steve Robb,
executive director of the research center.
The university’s principal research partner in the project
was Cargill, Inc. The company now sells the industrial
grade product. Robb says that for 13 years the polymer
research center has been working in the green arena.
The research activities are enhanced by the fact that the
university is home to three of the top 10 bio-based
polymer research scientists in the world.
The activities surrounding the industrial product development have drawn international and national attention
from companies that are negotiating with university officials on joint agreements to develop new products.
An advantage of being a university town includes the
alumni network. The former president of EaglePicher
Technologies, a power system manufacturer, is a graduate
of Pittsburg State University. A few years ago, the company
