Firms quickly fill MGE innovation center

The new MGE Innovation Center opened Friday, March 19, with more than double its past building space, yet the latest University Research Park addition already has nearly a full house of tenants.

See also: Retiring McGown nurtured Research Park from concept to maturity

The facility will be home base for 14 small businesses, five of them new to the Research Park, putting the center at 85 percent occupancy. It reflects a growing demand for the Innovation Center concept, which began a decade ago as a way to nurture high-tech ideas into successful companies.

“We have seen a growing interest at the university in technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property,” says Wayne McGown, director of the Research Park. “The Innovation Center provides an excellent location for the spin-off companies that result from this trend.”

The MGE Innovation Center, supported by a $1 million donation last summer from Madison Gas and Electric, is part of a new 55,000-square-foot office building on the Research Park’s newly developed property on the west side of Whitney Way. MGE also sponsored the original center in 1989.

“This commitment by MGE shareholders is a long-term investment in our local economy,” says David Mebane, MGE’s chief executive officer. “High-technology businesses provide steady growth for our electric and gas operations.”

The Innovation Center has been a key part of MGE’s efforts to encourage high-technology business growth in the Madison area, said Mike Mathews, MGE’s director of economic development. “High-tech firms are a good fit for the area,” he says. “The tend to rely on university research and graduates to establish and grow their businesses.”

That has been especially true with recent additions to the center. Greg Hyer, URP associate director, says that all five new businesses at the center have a connection to University of Wisconsin–Madison research.

One new firm, called Quiq Inc., is the brainchild of UW–Madison computer scientist Raghu Ramakrishnan. He is developing Internet-based software that will help people create online communities. The idea is to have a shared network of information and services that can help school groups, clubs and other organizations stay better connected.

Another new business, Metabiologics, stems from research by bacteriology Professor Eric Johnson into beneficial uses for the botulinum toxin. Best known as a toxic food contaminant, botulinum toxin has been found to be a very effective drug in treating muscle disorders and spasms.

The 27,000 square feet of space in the new center is up from 10,000 square feet in the previous building, and includes more shared features, Hyer says. It will have four conference rooms, shared lab space to do prototype work and a community commons and food service area.

In another “great fit” for the center, Hyer says, the Madison volunteer organization Senior Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE, will move into the Innovation Center. Tapping the experience of area retired business leaders and faculty, this organization provides free consulting services and can operate as an informal board of directors for small business startups. Hyer says SCORE serves clients across the city, but is an ideal service for the type of businesses at the center, which often start with strong technological background but limited business knowledge.

The original MGE Innovation Center demonstrated great success in its first decade in Madison, says McGown. A survey of the 27 businesses started since 1989 showed a 90 percent success rate of companies still in business. The average success rate of U.S. business startups is closer to 20 percent. Businesses started at the center have created more than 200 high-paying new jobs, Mathews says.

Shared services form the backbone of the center. Advisory assistance in financial and business planning is provided by Venture Investors, a venture and seed capital company which will serve as building manager for the new center. Other support and mentoring occurs from the connection to UW–Madison, and the new facility will have a high-speed connection to the campus Internet server.

Current companies relocating to the new building are: PiezoMax Technologies, a nano-scale device development firm; The Madison Group, simulation technology developers for the plastics industry; Clarion Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company; Spectrum Research, a software development and computer-aided drug design company; GeriGene, a firm developing genetic therapies for age-related diseases; Genome Technologies, which develops tools for large-scale DNA sequencing; and Frontier Science and Technology Research Foundation, a non-profit organization doing cancer and AIDS clinical trial research.

Other new companies include: KiwiChem International, a separations chemistry developer; TomoTherapy Inc., which is developing new radiation technology; and Procertus BioPharm, which is developing products to lessen the effects of chemotherapy.

Third Wave Technologies, which is developing new tools for DNA analysis and therapy, is located elsewhere in the park but will use space in the building. The $4.5 million building’s anchor tenants include Mirus Corp., a gene therapy firm, and UW Learning Innovations, an educational technology firm.