Business incubator nears completion, tenant negotiations under way at Providence Road site

 

The University of Missouri’s Life Science Business Incubator

The University of Missouri’s Life Science Business Incubator, which is on target to open in September, is close to reaching agreements with several potential tenants and getting the state funding needed to finish interior construction, according to Jake Halliday, president and CEO of the Missouri Innovation Center, which will manage the incubator.

The incubator aids the development of early-stage technology companies linked to MU by providing specialized lab space and support services. At recent economic forums in Columbia, business leaders cited the potential success of the Business Incubator and MU’s Discovery Ridge research park as keys to building the area’s technology-led economic development strategy.

The 33,000-square-foot building is under construction along Providence Road near the MU Research Reactor.

Legislation that includes $500,000 for equipment related to construction of the business incubator was passed by the Missouri House of Representatives and was making its way through the Senate in late April.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development recently approved $100,000 in 50 percent Missouri Small Business Incubator Tax Credits to be offered as incentives for private donors to support the incubator in 2008, Halliday said.

The primary funding for the facility was $3 million from federal grants, $3 million from MU and $2 million from Monsanto, a multinational agriculture biotechnology company, and about $1 million from other private sector sources and the city of Columbia.

Lease terms are being finalized based on a study in which MBA candidates at the Trulaske College of Business benchmarked best practices at the nation’s top business incubators, Halliday said.

No leases have been signed but Halliday wrote in an e-mail that discussions are under way with a number of prospective tenants, including a specialty chemical company, a renewable materials company and three other MU spin-off companies:

• Equinosis – a technology company funded by Centennial Investors that evaluates lameness in horses.
• VesicaMed – a radiopharmaceutical company focused on bladder cancer
• VeraPulse – a medical device company commercializing photo-acoustic detection of circulating tumor cells.

Halliday said another potential tenant seeking to be close to research activities at MU is a Nottingham, England company specializing in cancer diagnosis and therapy in dogs and cats that plans to establish a U.S. headquarters here.