Citywide economic development could be fueled by research and technology

Some members of Columbia’s economic-development community say the pieces are falling into place for a “technology-led economic development strategy,” increasing opportunities for jobs that require a higher skill level, offer greater pay and may be cleaner for the environment.

“Over the next three to five years, we ought to see some great companies growing out of the university system,” said Bernie Andrews, president of Columbia’s Regional Economic Development, Inc.

Andrews said the focus of his organization is recruiting new business from other areas but that a technology-led economic development strategy is an important component of any community’s efforts.

“For Columbia, we have this great resource in the university that has largely gone untapped until relatively recently,” Andrews said. “Now, the community is really coming together to make the most of what we have. It hasn’t quite gelled yet, but it’s getting there.”

Andrews pointed out that recently, the University of Missouri changed its mission statement to reflect the importance of statewide economic development to its role.

Jake Halliday, director of the Columbia-based Missouri Innovation Center, which has offices at MU, pointed out that the university is poised to take the first step toward enabling technology-led economic development.

“A community needs the right infrastructure for technology jobs to be a major part of the job market,” Halliday said. “Columbia is on the verge of having all of the pieces of the infrastructure.”

According to Halliday, the first component is a large, accomplished research engine, and the University of Missouri-Columbia fits the bill. “A community needs to be making $180-$220 million in annual research expenditures to be in the game, and MU is in that range,” he said.

The second component is a business incubator, such as the Missouri Innovation Center. Business incubators are designed to accelerate the successful development of startup and fledgling companies by providing entrepreneurs with an array of resources and services. These can include staff support; business and scientific expertise; specialized equipment and facilities; and access to potential financing.

Halliday said that incubators such as the Missouri Innovation Center are critical because they help early-stage companies beat the odds; 70 percent of all startup companies fail within the first five years.

The third component is the availability of early-stage capital—preferably from a combination of individual investors, venture capital firms and more traditional funders with some willingness to support early-stage companies.

There are no venture capital firms in Columbia, but strong ties exist with firms in St. Louis and Kansas City. The Columbia Chamber of Commerce took a big step toward helping Columbia follow a technology-led economic development strategy when it spearheaded the launch of Centennial Investors, a group of high-net-worth “angel” investors with a particular interest in early-stage deals.

The fourth component is a research park—a location where high-tech or research-based companies can operate in close proximity to one another, providing greater opportunities for cooperation and synergies. Columbia’s Discovery Ridge could fill this last need. Recently, developers broke ground for Discovery Ridge’s first anchor tenant, ABC Labs. It is supported by a combination of both public and private financing and resources.

IconoPsych, an MU-related startup that enables psychiatrists to serve patients online with videoconferencing, is an early-stage technology company that has been making its way through the process. Founders Jason Cafer and Shane Bradley are resident physicians at MU, and their ideas grew from their work together.

“I met Michael Schrader, an MU business professor, through a small-business development program,” Cafer said. “He made the IconoPsych startup a class project two years ago and has remained involved since. He became an investor of the company and referred us to the Missouri Innovation Center (MIC) to start the process of raising capital to market this software package, which we call IconoChart.”

Today, Cafer and his associates are working with the Missouri Innovation Center to ready their product for market and to secure financing. “We’d be running around like headless chickens if not for the Missouri Innovation Center,” Cafer said.