Building boom continues at research park
The University Research Park’s incubator for small-scale, high-technology business startups has outgrown itself again, prompting the park’s Board of Trustees to launch a second expansion in as many years.
The MGE Innovation Center will effectively double in size under the plan for a new 45,000 square foot building, which will be connected by a glass walkway to the existing center at 505 S. Rosa Road. The roughly $4 million facility could provide enough room for as many as 20 new technology and biotechnology businesses, bringing the center’s total capacity to 40-plus tenants.
 Custom-built circuit boards are the heart of electronic measuring devices produced at GWC Instruments in the research park. Photos: Jeff Miller
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It was one of several new building projects approved May 2 by the Research Park board in one of the park’s largest growth spurts in recent years. Also approved were the designs for a new 63,000 square-foot UW–Madison health administration building and the go-ahead on a 65,000-square-foot expansion of Third Wave Technologies.
Only one year ago, the Innovation Center moved into the new Rosa Road building to meet its growing need for space – and was full soon after opening its doors. Mark Bugher, director of the Research Park, says no one expected the innovation center’s appeal to grow this quickly.
Bugher says the driving force behind this phenomenon is research at the university. New discoveries in the biosciences and in computer technology are leading to commercial applications, and the growth in UW-based spinoff companies is averaging about 14 per year.
“We have a number of companies right now that are primed and ready to launch, and we don’t have the space for them,” Bugher says. “We could pretty much fill the addition right now if we had it available.”
A recent study of high-tech business development by University Industry Relations identified 178 Wisconsin business that have some formal tie to UW–Madison technology, including 107 new companies from the past 10 years.
One example of a new company is Quintessence, which plans to develop new biological therapies for collagen-related disorders such as arthritis. The company, based on the work of UW–Madison biochemist Ron Raines, is waiting for an available space to move into the Innovation Center.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the intellectual property agency for UW–Madison, also is reporting a big increase in patenting and licensing activity. In 1998-99, WARF executed 92 income-producing licenses with industry, compared to 29 licenses five years earlier.
“There’s a lot of residual, pent-up interest in spinoffs that’s coming to the forefront through the work of WARF and UIR,” Bugher says. “I think the potential for growth over the next 24 months is staggering.”
Bugher says the MGE Innovation Center has a responsibility to help encourage technology transfer at the university and provide the space and services to help spin-offs succeed. High-tech businesses often are high-risk ventures that require long research and development phases before they profit.
“I think we need to remain true to the university’s philosophy, in that we have a faculty demand we need to satisfy,” Bugher says. “We also need to start diversifying the kinds of startup businesses we have out here and not rely exclusively on biotechnology.”
Growth areas related to university research include medical instrumentation and information technology linked to the biosciences, such as genome sequencing technology, he says.
The innovation center provides shared resources to high-tech small businesses, giving them a better chance at success in their earliest stages. Companies receive high-speed Internet access to UW–Madison and strategic financial and business planning advice from Venture Investors, a venture and seed capital company which manages the center.
Dave Hyzer, architect for the project from Strang Inc., says the new building will have several unique design features, including energy-conserving tinted glass used throughout the building. The glass walkway will take advantage of adjacent greenspace south of the building.
The centerpiece of the building will be a conference center capable of holding 100 people, the first sizable conference space at the park. It will be available to all 85 park companies and have separate fiber-optic lines for video conferencing and distance learning.
Hyzer says the new design includes a total of 27 offices and 22 wet labs, but the rooms – like the companies – need to be flexible. Removable walls can create more space for growing companies.
“The idea is to have the building set up to be tailored to the needs of each company,” Hyzer says. “Those needs are undefined when companies move in.”
The general contractor, Vogel Brothers of Madison, is expected to start construction in August and be finished by April 2001.
Bugher says the growth spurt poses another challenge for the park — where to build next. “After this meeting, we’re looking at four plots that remain available in the balance of the park,” he says. “My biggest fear right now is, where do we go from here?”
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