Strong Local Economy : Innovation + Job News

After picking up speed over the last month, Minnesota's first tech accelerator is set to cruise with its first class of companies.

Following a weekend-long "bootcamp" June 10–12, Project Skyway chose eight "Skywalkers" from the field of 25 semi-finalist companies. Over the course of the weekend, the companies pitched their own and each other's ideas to fellow entrepreneurs, Project Skyway organizers, and the public. They attended roundtables with lawyers, investors, accomplished tech and software entrepreneurs, and others, and they met potential investors and customers.

"They certainly got a lot out of it," whether they moved on or not, said Project Skyway founder Cem Erdem of the 25 bootcampers. Project Skyway asked many of those not selected to apply for the next round after fine-tuning their ideas, adding a business partner, raising capital, or otherwise advancing their businesses.

After the bootcamp, the companies were rated by all involved, including each other and members of the public. In the end, eight were chosen:

COR² Technology--The company offers a cloud-based business-process and work-flow automation service to help organizations with 5 to 500 co-workers eliminate piles of paper by integrating simple applications with unlimited user licenses that power the whole organization.

Naiku--Naiku creates an affordable Software-as-a-Service that K-12 teachers use to easily individualize learning with a dashboard created by its proprietary analytics model.

Nitch--Nitch is an online platform for B2B collaboration and commerce.

Paypongo--Paypongo's service is a secure mobile payment solution that allows consumer-to-merchant transactions; consumer-to-consumer transactions; and merchant-to-merchant transactions, all through mobile devices. Transactions can originate from banking accounts or credit cards.

Qualtrx--Qualtrx is a new healthcare sales channel--an online solutions marketplace where healthcare providers publish patient-care needs, goals, and priorities, and where pharma and device vendors purchase these needs as "keywords" to make targeted needs-based proposals via the Qualtrx platform.

Telementry Web--TelemetryWeb helps makers of Internet-connected sensors and industrial devices build a new class of innovative, data-centric solutions by leveraging a ready-to-use, scalable Software-as-a-Service platform to secure, store, process, and integrate sensor data in novel ways.

Vanquish AP--VanquishAP is developing a real estate management platform that connects property managers, building owners, and tenants by creating local social communities while automating redundant tasks and centralizing logistics.

UHungry--UHungry is developing a social networking site to help college students save money and time by making it easy for them to place orders online at quick-serve restaurants with a group of friends while earning points to spend on future orders by completing tasks. This company, hailing from Long Island, was the only one not from Minnesota.

Erdem notes that the Skywalker companies are all early-stage companies, beyond the more basic start-up level.

Erdem and Casey Allen's video run-down of the eight Skywalkers gives an inside look not only at each of the companies, but at the Project Skyway decision process and model.

Cem and Casey Play-by-Play Skywalker Commentary from Casey Allen on Vimeo.

Although the accelerator class was intended to begin Aug. 1, Erdem sent an email this week informing the finalists that they would move forward now with the momentum of the bootcamp.
 
The class, and Project Skyway in general, will be based out of the tech accelerator's new shared space (with the co-working organization CoCo) in the Grain Exchange building in Downtown Minneapolis. Project Skyway plans a 'big party' at the end of July after the move in mid-July.

Erdem's personal email to each of the eight finalists reflects the tenor of his passion, and it sets the bar high for the participants:

"I bought into your vision," he writes, "but more importantly I bought into your purpose, your character, who you are. Our entire community will be watching you every step of the way. They are thirsty to see you succeed and bring the long lost entrepreneurial fame back to our region."

Source: Cem Erdem
Writer: Jeremy Stratton
 

Ximedica (pronounced "Zye-medica") is already established near one medical device hotspot (Boston) and is now expanding to another: the Twin Cities.

"Minneapolis is the hub of so many medical device companies and the hub of so many of our customers," says Sandra Weiss, director of marketing for the Providence, Rhode Island-based firm.

Ximedica provides up-front research, design, strategy, product development and introduction, and many other services to medical device and consumer healthcare companies.

The new office will be located in the University Enterprise Laboratories (UEL) Center, near University Avenue and Highway 280.

The company will be hiring locally, says Weiss--a key part of maintaining the presence and trust with local partners that the company has established on the East Coast for nearly 25 years.

"We're [hiring locally] so we can continue to maintain that service, we can continue to earn that trust locally, just like we've done in Providence," says Weiss, who notes that the Twin Cities is also a hub of academia and research related to the industry.

Ximedica does not have a solid target for the number of employees there, but it is "actively recruiting" and "aggressively hiring," says Stephanie Chamberlain, human resources manager for Ximedica.

As of mid-June, the staff count was one: Director of Human Factors Industrial Design David Copeland. His team will eventually include a director of engineering; senior level mechanical, software and electrical engineers; and program managers.

The Minnesota facility is expected to be at full capacity this fall, according to a press release, and Ximedica is also expanding its Providence location to 100,000 square feet of "integrated product development space."

Source: Sandra Weiss, Ximedica
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The Minneapolis City Council in April approved the Homegrown Business Development Center, aimed at supporting small and start-up food-based businesses in the city.

The center is a loan program and technical assistance center, through which Minneapolis-based businesses associated with the processing, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of local food products can apply for loans of up to $10,000 at 2 percent interest. Businesses will need to match the loan amount.

The April approval by the City Council set in motion a year-long pilot with $100,000 in total loan funds available.

The center is part of the larger, ongoing "Homegrown Minneapolis" effort, "one small piece of the homegrown pie," says Kris Maritz, loan and technical assistance specialist for the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD), which administers the loans for the city. It's "another tool in the toolbox of loans that the city provides for small businesses."

Eligible businesses exist in the middle of the continuum of grower-to-consumer local foods, says Maritz. While other resources exist for local growers and retailers, the program might benefit a small producer that has been selling at farmers' markets, for instance, but wants to take the step to packaging and selling in greater volumes.

Maritz says the newly approved center has yet to receive its first application, but she has spoken to about a dozen interested companies. Maritz expects the first round of loans to go to existing companies that already have  products and/or sales under their belts. That said, the loans are intended to support start-ups as well.

The center will also refer companies to other resources such as experts in food packaging or nutrition labels, says Maritz.

Such resources could be just a part of a company's preparation to apply for the loan, notes Maritz. "Just because you send in an application doesn't mean you're going to get the cash," she says. "There's a lot of legwork that has to be done before a business is even ready to apply for a loan."

Once off the ground, Maritz says she thinks the program can be very successful. "I think it can really help a lot of the food manufacturers in the city … not just the loan capital, but sending this message to food businesses in the metro. Even if you don't come to us for a loan, you can still get a lot of informational help."

 More information is available in the city's Guide to Starting a Local Food Business in Minneapolis. (pdf)

Source: Kris Maritz, Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The Minnesota Angel Network is beta-testing and fine-tuning its process in anticipation of a public launch in July.

Announced in January, the network will help companies prepare for funding by angel investors and will connect the two groups.

Right now, seven companies are beta-testing the process, says Todd Leonard, executive director of the Minnesota Angel Network. They represent various industries, regions of the state, and even stages of development--"from the whole spectrum of business," he says.

The company types include software, internet sales, biotech/cleantech firms, and animal health, and they include new startups, firms that have been through the equity process previously, and operational companies seeking outside funds for the first time.

"We're finding that even very seasoned CEOs that actually have functional, operating companies still are finding our educational process extremely helpful," says Leonard.

It's that educational process, more than connecting companies with capital, that Leonard stresses the network is about.

"Our primary concern is the educational side to this," he says. "The investment is really an additional benefit that we have, in that we have this relationship with those investors."

Investors are poised for that relationship, however, according to Leonard, and the Minnesota Angel Network is aligned with a number of other states with angel investment networks--at least 18 other network funds that "represent a significant amount of angel investment monies," he says. The network has also partnered with Rain Source Capital and other networked funds in Minnesota and elsewhere.

The network is also leveraging regional economic development organizations across the state with which it partners. While many may refer companies to the emerging program, those that sponsor the network as donors will take an early-stage role, facilitating intake and some of the training.
 
Those basic steps include due diligence and gap analysis, readying companies and their information for investors --an effort that mitigates risk for investors and companies alike.

The angel network also now has a full-time chief operating officer: David Wagy, a former senior director of finance for Medtronic and an angel investor.

Leonard says his own role is currently focused on fundraising. The network's goal is to not use any funds outside of donors, he says, and to be self-sustaining within its second year of operations.

Source: Todd Leonard, Minnesota Angel Network
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

On May 2, the City of Minneapolis awarded nearly $500,000 in grants to assist small businesses along its commercial corridors through the city's Great Streets Neighborhood Business District Program.

The city funded 15 proposals ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, for a total of $499,873. The funds are passed through community development organizations to the businesses.

This is the fourth year the grants have been awarded. So far, more than 250 new and existing businesses have received technical assistance in marketing, bookkeeping, product mix, licensing and code requirements, and business planning, states a press release announcing the grants. The awarded organizations also use the funds for such things as business development and recruitment, public safety initiatives, real estate/market assessment, construction mitigation, and more.

The list of awarded organizations includes nonprofits across the city.
 
The Neighborhood Business District grants program is part of the city's $4 million Great Streets initiative, according to Kelly Hoffman, senior project coordinator for the City of Minneapolis.

The greater initiative also includes façade improvement matching grants, real estate development gap financing loans, and marketing of the city's finance programs to help small businesses, she says.

As the program has progressed, the city is measuring progress and collecting success stories, Hoffman says, and the program allows organizations in the city's 118 commercial nodes and corridors to learn from one another.

"One of the benefits of the program being around for a fourth year is we're starting to figure out best practices and different ways for organizations to further best strategies," she says.

Source: Kelly Hoffman, City of Minneapolis.
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul hope green will be gold when it comes to local businesses, manufacturing, jobs, products, and services.

Announced last summer and approved last fall, the first meeting of the Thinc.GreenMSP steering committee was convened by the mayors on April 13.

Thinc.GreenMSP is an economic-development partnership between the two cities, business, organized labor, nonprofits, and government to retain, grow and attract green-manufacturing businesses and jobs in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region, which St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman envisions as "the center of a burgeoning green economy" in a press release about the endeavor.

The effort involves "buying and using locally made products from green manufacturers," as Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak stated in the release. The partners believe that demand will drive the need for workers to manufacture those products--and new and thriving businesses to employ those workers.

Thinc.GreenMSP involves five "strategic initiatives," according to the press release:

— a "Local Government Green Purchasing Partnership" to help grow the market for green products;
— support for local and state actions to utilize aggressive green building standards and create demand for manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers of green products and services;
— a green-business recruitment strategy to attract new businesses;
— private start-up funding to seed new, growing, or relocating businesses, with financing options to leverage public investment with private capital; and
 — a program to recognize corporate leadership in green manufacturing.

The Thinc.GreenMSP initiative falls under the larger joint effort between the cities to create a metropolitan business plan--part of a pilot project by the Brookings Institute. Earlier this month, mayors Coleman and Rybak traveled to Washington, D.C. to present the plan, which aims to improve the business environment, attract companies and "human capital," and foster innovation and entrepreneurship, among other goals.

The joint press release from the two cities includes the list of individuals from business, organized labor, government and nonprofits on the Thinc.GreenMSP steering committee.

Source: City of Minneapolis, City of St. Paul
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The local-government focus on fostering innovation and entrepreneurs echoes a larger effort underway at the federal level, such as the Obama administration's Startup America program, which made its stop in the Twin Cities earlier this month.

Federal officials from the Commerce Department,Patent and Trademark Office, Small Business Administration, and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs led a number of "Reducing Barriers" roundtable discussions with local small businesses and large corporations to gauge what changes might be made to improve the environment for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Medronic hosted the event at its Fridley headquarters.

Officials intend to take the ideas that come out of the roundtable tour of eight U.S. cities back to Washington "to streamline and simplify unnecessary barriers," according to a description of the April 6 event. President Obama has given an executive order for federal agencies to "identify and take steps to eliminate or reduce regulations that are outdated or overly burdensome to entrepreneurs."

Ideas are also being collected online, where a list of strategies is growing daily.

Specifics from the Twin Cities roundtables were not yet available, but Nancy Libersky, district director of the Minnesota office of the SBA, says the ideas similarly ran the gamut-- "anything from small-government to big-government to non-government questions," says Libersky.

Likewise, changes implemented could range from the congressional level to local fixes, she said.

In similar news, the SBA held the first class this week for its e200 Emerging Leaders Program, through which selected small businesses receive training, mentoring, and other resources. As with Startup America, the Twin Cities is one of a select group to take part in the program.

"I think that Minnesota is really on the forefront of being highlighted, and I'm really hoping that this continues," says Libersky of the momentum of the programs.

Libersky sees both as part of a larger, necessary collaboration to improve the economic atmosphere for entrepreneurs.

"I think that everybody needs to work together," she says. "I think we have a huge gap that the entrepreneurs really need to fill, and the only way that they're going to be stronger is to help them. It's these types of programs that are really helping these entrepreneurs grow."

Source: Nancy Libersky, Minnesota Office of the Small Business Administration
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

While web developers were burning the midnight oil, Overnight Challenge hosts The Nerdery were putting the finishing touches on an expansion that will more than double its Bloomington headquarters.

The 8-year-old web development firm is growing like crazy; the employee count stood at 205 last week, but don't blink.

"We're pretty much adding staff all the time," says Nerdery Communications Manager Mark Malmberg. "Almost every Monday new people are starting."

The buildout will bring the headquarters to 44,625 square feet, about half of which was being occupied in daily phases this week. The rest will be ready around the turn of the year, says Malmberg, likely just in time for the approximately 100 employees they expect to add by then.

New hires have mostly been developers, but The Nerdery has also seeing smaller departments expand--both its user experience and quality assurance departments have grown from a just one or two to 10 people. The company has also been adding account executives; two-thirds of its business is for more than 200 agencies in 30 states.

The expansion includes the addition of a 220-seat theater, in which the "big hive mind" will congregate on Friday late-afternoons for its weekly Bottlecap Talk, a "peer-to-peer with beer," as Malmberg puts it--a company tradition of sharing work from the week before.

The Nerdery will also let other organizations from the web development community, such as iPhone developers and PHP and Wordpress user groups, use the space, Malmberg says. "We like to be the hub for that sort of thing," he says.

The physical and staffing expansions reflect revenue growth, of course; The Nerdery "is tracking to $30 million" this year, says Malmberg.

Source: Mark Malmberg, The Nerdery
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Hey entrepreneurs: how does $50,000 sound? Good?

Well how about $30 million?

The first amount is the take-away for the winner of the 2011 Minnesota Cup competition, through which entrepreneurs pit their best ideas and business endeavors against one another in six categories.

The higher number is the amount of capital raised by companies that were Minnesota Cup finalists in 2009 and 2010.

Through May 20, the seventh annual Minnesota Cup is open for entries in six award divisions--High Tech, BioSciences, Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Social Entrepreneurship, General, and Student--through a short online form.
 
Later, judges will select 8–10 semi-finalists from each division who will prepare full business plans and be paired with an industry-specific entrepreneurial mentor.

Division winners are awarded as much as $25,000 and the chance at the grand prize--another $25,000--in September.

While 50 grand and the exposure of winning is nothing to sneeze at, Minnesota Cup Co-founder Dan Mallin notes that the goal is really to "help 30 businesses get started in each category," whether a given business is just a good idea or an existing startup.

"Another good outcome is they might find out it really isn't a good idea," says Mallin.

Participants also benefit from mentorship and resources--far more of which exist in general for the state's entrepreneurs since the advent of the Cup six years ago, notes Mallin.

Two of those resources are the new 2011 partners Minnesota Angel Network and tech accelerator Project Skyway, which will offer the winner of the High Tech division a spot in its startup "boot camp."

Mallin says he sees momentum in the startup scene.

"The Cup is an attempt to be a conduit amongst the players and resources behind that momentum," he says.

That said, Mallin also sees a lot of room for improvement in state's entrepreneurial efforts. "We're being outspent by 30 other states in innovation," he says.

Source: Dan Mallin, Minnesota Cup
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

If you see a disconnect between Minneapolis-mainstay Freewheel Bike's urban locations and the company's newest store in suburban Eden Prairie, take a look at a bike map.??

A long line of trails--primarily the Midtown Greenway and its western extensions--connects the flagship store, opened in 1974, to the new Eden Prairie location at 12910 Plaza Drive near Eden Prairie Center, where a network of local bike trails weaves its way through the surrounding area. (Along the 17-mile journey, one would pass Freewheel's trailside store near the Midtown Global Market, added in 2008.)

Eden Prairie includes 125 miles of biking trails, according to a press release, and Freewheel cites both leisure and urban/suburban commuters in its decision to locate there, as well as "an overall vision that supports and promotes bicycle riding, for leisure or commuting, throughout the Twin Cities metro area."

Freewheel is celebrating the opening of the new 7,000-square-foot store with a week-long open house, through March 28, with promotions at all three locations, including 20 percent off all the merchandise you can fit in a Freewheel Bike tote bag.

Freewheel owner Kevin Ishaug will manage the new store, which will support 35 new full- and part-time employees, bringing Freewheel's total staff count to 85, according to a press release.

The pairing of Freewheel and Eden Prairie marks the marriage of national elites: Money magazine's "best place to live" for 2010 and a Bicycle Retailer magazine "five-star retailer"--ranking in the top 100 nationwide for five straight years (along with local competitors Erik's and Penn Cycle).

In addition to its three locations, Freewheel also offers its Mobile Repair Squad and Gear Box vending machines, which offer repair kits and snack items along several Twin Cities-area bike trails.

Source: Freewheel Bike
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Minneapolis is one of the most recent additions to a list of cities hoping to boost growth in its existing small businesses through the Small Business Asministration's (SBA) e200 Emerging Leaders Initiative.

The program, administered locally by the Minnesota office of the SBA, delivers 100 hours of training to selected small businesses, as well as mentoring, networking and connections with other businesses, city leaders and the financial community.

Classes begin April 18 and run bi-weekly through November, says Nancy Libersky, district director of the Minnesota office of the SBA.  Libersky compared the "high-level, very-intense training" to an MBA worth $10,000 per student. Each company selected may send one executive-level employee ("CEO, CFO--one of the Cs," says Libersky).

Space is limited. Libersky did not say how many companies could participate, only that they have received some "excellent candidates." Minneapolis businesses that generate revenues between $400,000 and $10 million, and which have been in business for at least three years, are eligible.

Minneapolis is one of 17 urban-community participants around the country for fiscal year 2011. More than 600 small businesses have been through the program since its inception is 2008, according to an SBA press release.

The class will be led by a specialized trainer hired out of Washington, D.C. who will interview and train to learn the locality and specifics of the Minneapolis program, says Libersky. The SBA has eight local business, organization and municipal partners assisting in the initiative.

Source: Nancy Libersky, Minnesota Office of the Small Business Administration
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

The results are in for the state's Angel Investor Tax Credit program, passed last April and launched in July of 2010.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) delivered its report to the legislature on March 15. (The 16-page report and some of its contents are linked at the bottom of this page.)

In the last six months of the year, the program drew in $28 million in investment to 67 Minnesota small businesses (those not more than 10 years old and with fewer than 25 employees, among other qualification requirements).

Eleven separate businesses received $1 million or more through the program, including Cachet Financial Solutions, the only company to bring in more than $2 million.

The investments came from 258 certified individuals, who received approximately $7 million in Small Business Investment Tax Credits.

That amount is $4 million shy of the $11 million available for 2010--a remainder that will roll into 2011, totaling $16 million for the current year, according to DEED's Jeff Nelson.

Nelson said that activity accelerated toward the end of the last year, as the program picked up speed. That momentum is expected to continue, aided in part by the new Minnesota Angel Network, launched earlier this year.

No surprise: medical devices and equipment, software, and biotechnology accounted for more than half of the industries and businesses receiving investments, with clean technology close behind. In terms of total investment amount, biotech barely led the field:

Biotech: $5,683,000
Medical devices and equipment: $5,362,484
Software: $5,320,753
Clean tech: $4,281,002

Only six of the 67 businesses receiving investment were outside the Twin Cities metro area, a point of concern noted and addressed in the report.

Monte Hanson, DEED spokesperson, noted that more than a quarter of investors were from out of state--an aspect that differs from other states' angel-investment programs. Non-Minnesota investors receive a direct refundable credit from the state--an opportunity that encourages out-of-state participation, says Hanson.

Sources: Jeff Nelson and Monte Hanson, Department of Employment and Economic Development
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Sometimes it takes the right ingredient to make a recipe work.

In the case of Baldinger Bakery and the St. Paul Port Authority, just add $19 million in New Market Tax Credits to make the dough rise.

The NMTC financing, through the Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF), will result in a new, 145,000-square-foot facility for Baldinger in the Dayton's Bluff area of St. Paul. The project, expected to be completed this year, should create 80 full-time construction jobs.

Moreover, Baldinger will hire 40 new full-time employees over the next ten years--70 percent of those from St. Paul --at a minimum of $11 an hour, according to East Side Pride.

Baldinger's roots go back to 1888, when immigrant Henry Baldinger opened his bakery in St. Paul. Nearly 125 years later, the bakery has grown into a giant commercial operation, shipping to international markets and supplying McDonald's with approximately 30 percent of its buns, along with strategic partner East Balt Bakeries out of Chicago, according to the Baldinger website.

Having grown out of its 60,000 square-foot West Side facility, Baldinger sought to stay in St. Paul through a deal with the St. Paul Port Authority (SPPA), which was looking for a tenant for the 9.4-acre site of the former Griffin Wheelworks foundry. The site is part of the SPPA's 61-acre Beacon Bluff Business Center, a redevelopment of 3M's former headquarters on St. Paul's East Side.

The deal "languished as credit remained tight and Baldinger received a generous incentive offer to move to a nearby suburb," according to a press release from Haberman for the Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF), which became a player in the game when it contributed the $19 million in NMTC financing, along with the SPPA, last year.

The Griffin site is located in a qualified low-income census tract, making the project eligible for the NMTC financing.
 
Baldinger's website offers a virtual aerial view of the future bakery.

Sources: David Hlavac, Haberman
East Side Pride
Baldinger Bakery

Writer: Jeremy Stratton

Agitators, innovators, evangelists and maybe even some angels (as in investors) gathered Feb. 23 for a MOJO Minnesota-hosted conversation on technology transfer.

At issue: how to bridge the gap between inventors and entrepreneurs and smooth the runway for the commercialization of innovations and intellectual property produced by Minnesota researchers.

The event took place on the U of M's West Bank campus. The panel of six, which was moderated by MOJO "agitator" Rick Brimacomb, represented the university (and Mayo Clinic) research side, the entrepreneur side, and someone in between:  recent U of M graduate-turned entrepreneur Alex Johansson, co-founder and CTO of the startup NewWater, LLC,

Jay Schrankler, executive director of the U of M's Office of Technology Commercialization, offered some statistics about the university's improving track record of "spinning off" companies--and ones that stay in Minnesota.

From 2001–2006, said Schrankler, 14 companies spun out of the university, of which four still exist. Of the147 jobs those companies created, 111 are in California now--an example of the tech-and-talent drain that was a key topic of the MOJO conversation.

By contrast, 23 companies have come out of the U of M since 2006, he said, 21 of which are still around. They account for 50 jobs, all of which are in Minnesota, according to Schrankler.

Early conversation addressed the success or failure of tech-transfer attempts.

"Success is a deal that doesn't fall through," said Jeff Carpenter, senior portfolio manager for Development Capital Networks. He outlined mistakes he sees companies making in the process of bringing research to market.

"The companies tend to … overestimate the stage of development, and they underestimate the cost and the time to get something to market."

Lee Jones, CEO in residence at the university's Venture Center, stressed the importance of similar expectations on the parts of the researchers and entrepreneurs.

"When I hear people say 'it's hard to get technology out of [the university],' what I really hear is that they, a) don't know how to access it, or b) they have expectations that they are getting more than [the concept of the technology].

"There's expectation that the development process has already taken place, or that the inventor is going to willingly hand over all of his information," she said.

Schrankler laid out the four elements necessary for a successful start-up company: the right technology, a good market for that technology, a good management team, and, of course, capital.

Johansson hit on a key point with his advice for entrepreneurs looking to license technology from the university.

"[The university's] one concern is the revenue that's going to get generated by this technology," he said, "and by licensing it to you, they are preventing anyone else from generating revenue with [that] technology."

Schrankler followed with a breakdown of revenue return: one-third rightly goes to the inventor, he said, and the rest goes back into research.

Later, conversation turned to the potential for technology to flee the state. While the university is strong in biotech research, "If you have a biotech invention, and you want to spin off a company, where is it going to end up?" asked Carpenter. "San Francisco or Boston."

Johansson noted that, of 40 recent, top-of-their-class graduates he knows, all have jobs, and only four are in this state.

Schrankler assured potential entrepreneurs that the university is trying to not send technology out of state--despite opportunities to do so--and he asked them to be patient.

"We have more potential companies in our pipeline right now than the system can handle," said Schrankler. "Have patience with us. The longer we can keep that company inside the university and work the problem so that it can stay here…"

An audience member asked why so much emphasis was put on biotech research at the university when the Twin Cities has stronger markets for other technology.

"We are the Silicon Valley of medical devices," said the audience member.

The argument was also made that the region's concentration of med-tech chokes off the potential for growth in other areas.

To this point, Carpenter advised entrepreneurs to diversify their interests in technologies.

"There's more here than just med-tech," he said. "Maintain what you've got with med-tech, but support all the other innovations out there."

"God bless you!" responded Darren Cox, founder and "chief evangelist" of Commerce and Search for Tech Transfer (CaSTT).

Earlier on, he had given prospective entrepreneurs some simple advice:

"Be curious … and figure out what it is that you're interested in that is going on at the U. It's a huge place, and they are some of the most amazing things that I've ever seen coming out of research.

"There are gold mines here, trust me," said Cox. "There are cash machines, and entrepreneurs who ignore the university's innovations are doing themselves a great disservice."

Source: MOJO Minnesota tech transfer conversation, Feb. 23
Writer: Jeremy Stratton

We haven't seen a lineup like this since the last Ozzfest.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will headline a group of senior administration officials for a day of trade talk Feb. 17 as the U.S. Department of Commerce kicks off its multi-city National Export Initiative Small Business Tour in Minneapolis. Local opening acts Governor Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will also speak.

The tour is designed to further the Obama Administration's "New Markets, New Jobs" outreach, part of the National Export Initiative launched last year. Its goal: to create millions of new jobs by doubling exports in the next five years.

The conference will address export challenges specific to small and medium-sized businesses, which generated 20 percent of Minnesota's total exports of merchandise in 2008. Challenges include foreign competition and access to information, market research, and financing.

The daylong conference will feature panels on topics like federal resources and "lessons learned" from area businesses that have succeeded in expanding into overseas markets.

Asked to comment specifically on opportunities, resources and strategies for Twin Cities businesses, Department of Commerce officials pointed to the most recent statistics on exports, jobs, and foreign investment in Minnesota.

Some key statistics include:

— Almost 20 percent of manufacturing workers in Minnesota depended on exports for their jobs in 2008, during which 6,814 companies exported goods from Minnesota. The vast majority (88 percent) were businesses with fewer than 500 employees.

— That year, foreign-controlled companies employed 97,200 Minnesota workers — 4.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment.

— In 2009, Minnesota's merchandise exports shipments totaled $15.5 billion. Of that, $4.1 billion (26 percent) went to Canada, our largest foreign market. Computers and electronics accounted for $3.4 billion of that total (22 percent), followed by machinery manufactures ($2.4 billion), miscellaneous manufactures ($1.9 billion), and transportation equipment ($1.7 billion).

— The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington statistical area (11 metro counties and two in Wisconsin) exported $9.3 billion in the first half of 2009 alone.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
Writer: Jeremy Stratton