sLlNDAlOCTOBERs,2008

to many good startsTRDA has hadsuccess in firstyear of helpingits start-upsBYWAYNE T. PRICE and

SCOTTBLAKEFLORIDATODAY

Matt Solar, president of astart-up medical devices com-pany called C2CLLC, movedinto the Technological Re-search and Development Au-thorit/s new Business Inno-vation Center in April, andhe's already hoping to moveout.

That's agoodthing.It would mean his company

secured outside funding anlno longer needs the help ofthe center, which aids fledg-ing, high-innovation compa-nies like Solar's in gettingstarted.

"If we look at April as ourstarting date here, then I'd saywe could easilybe out of herewithin two years if some of thedeals in the works gothrough," Solarsaid.

That'sthe kind of optimismand goals the leadership atTRDA wants to hear as theBusiness Innovation Centermarks its first ftrll vear of ex,istence.

But there is a nagging con-cern that fightening budgetsand the general financialmayhem worming throughthe economy could mean aslowdown in funding fromgovernment agencies, banksand outside investors. Such ascenario could impede theTRDAs mission and disruptthe.plans ofthe l0 centerten-ants sorely in need of outsidecapital.

Chester Straub Jr.. execu-tive director of the TRDA,concedes money couldtighten in the future. But hecontinues to believe compa-nies in the Business Innova-

Incubator gets off

Tech demo. Director of Engineering Chuck Kohfeldt and President Eva Kohfeldt of Global Engi-neering Management & Support Inc. describe some of the smaller products they make, includingboxes and systems used in the testing of equipment. Their company is working out ofthe Tech-nological Research and Development Authority's Business Innovation Oenter in Melbourne.

tion Center maintain an edgeover others when investorscomeknocking.

"The current sifuation obvi-ously is goingto make it morecompetitive for funding,"Straubsaid.

"I think being part of anSee START-UPS,3C

Tim Shortt, FLORIDA TODAY

About the fusinss hrnovdion GenbrI Location: 1050 W. NASA BlVd., Melbourne.I Annual budget: $2.9 million.I On the Web: www.TRDA.orgI Center occupancy and participants: 10 tenant companies based at the center; two nonresident clients andone approved for affiliation status.I Jobs created so far from companies: 27 full- and part-

time.I Number of business seminars held:24.I Attendance at seminars: 574.

FLORIDA TODAY file

Detailed work. CEO Matt Solar of Q2Q, a company at the Tech-nological Research and Development Authority's business incu-bation center. watches Nina Solar work on the coils for a ma-chine called a Thrombectomv device,

Center start-upsget funding l.g upSTART-UPS. from lC

incubation progam does give acompany alegup because they'renot going into a funding requestcold."

Tough timesThe current financial land-

scape doesn't present a rosy pic-ture for stalt-ups, or small busi-nesses in general, said Dan Cava-naugh, manager of the SmallBusiness Development CenterNetwork for Escambia and SantaRosa counties on the Panhandle.

The weak economy and theWall Street financial crisis meansfewer banks are providing loansto small businesses and fewer pri-vate investors are directingmoney to new ventures, Cava:naughsaid.

"It's basically shut down," hesaid "The banks simply aren'tloaning money. It's pretty sad."

Those fundingwoes threaten tomar what has been a positivestory at the Business InnovationCenter during its fi rst year.

Since the 30,000-square-footcenter opened at 1050 W' NASABlvd. inMelbourne, its 10 start-upcompany tenants have leveragedabout $5 million in orivate invest-ments, while the TRDAhas man-aged to wrangle $450,000 in stategrants.

The center, which offers low-cost rent, free meeting space andconsultations from business ex-perts and other entrepreneurs,also allowed the TRDA tostrengthen its partnerships withFlorida Tech, the University ofCentral Florida and the Univer-sityof Florida.

The dream, of course, is thatone of these start-ups will be thenext Microsoft, which ideallywould flourish and expand, creat-ing numerous jobs and economicbenefits for Brevard County, or atleastFlorida.

But at minimum, the authority,as with other economic develop-ment agencies, hopes to play asupporting role in the growth ofsuccessful small and medium-size high-tech companies.

So far. 27 oart-time and full-'ine jobs have befr created bycentertenants.

Capital is keyThe TRDA operates on a $2.9

million budget with most of themoney coming from federalsources such as NASA, the De-partment of Defense, the Depart-ment of Commerce and the De-partmentof Education.

Some funding also comes fromstate license plate fees commem-orating the Challenger spaceshuttle while the remaindercomes from money the TRDAcharges for leases and programs.

Even given that funding, how-ever, money flowing from inves-tors is still essential in allowingentrepreneurs to research and de-velop newproducts.

For start-ups, the processusuallyworks with so called angelinvestors providing a few hun-dred thousand dollars. Venturecapital investments, usually rang-ing from $3 million to $5 million,follow. If successful, private eq-uity investments with millionsmore trail the venture capitalists.

The 2007 Angel Market Analy-sis from the Center for VentureResearch at the University of NewHampshire showed there wassome growth in funding from in-vestors, but not a lot.

Total investments nationally in2007 were $26 billion. an increaseof 1.8 percent over 2006. Atotal of57, 120 entrepreneurial venturesreceived angel funding tn2007, a12 percent increase from 2006,according to the UNH study.

l,ouis Laubscher, chief operat-ing officer for Orlando-based En-terprise Florida, a public-privatepartnership formed to draw andexpand companies in Florida,said public and private money ishard to come by for small busi-nesses and business developmentprogams.

"Generally, there's enough evi-dence that the banks are beingvery careful in all their lending,and that cedainly applies to stad-ups," Laubscher said. "We canpresume it is a more difficult envi-ronmental for start-ups."

"Absolutely," said Matt Solar,the C2C president. "It's going tobe a lot tougher to get investors." rcontact Price at':142-3658or wprice@floridatoday,com.

FLORIDA TODAY file

Warmed up. Executive Director Chester Straub of the TechnologicalResearch and Development Authority in Melbourne says staft-ups inthe Business lnnovation Center have an advantage in "not going intoa funding request cold."

Companies leasing spacertthe Susinss Innovation Ce#erI Adapt4(www.adapt4.com)Product: Hardware and soflware that suppofts radio communi-oations via licensed radio waves that are not in use in a net-work areil.I Advanced Aero{www, invefi ed-vtail,corn)Product: Light spoft aircraft des,ign and manufacture.I Audigbnce(www.audigenceinc.com)Product: Patented software that better tunes cochlear implanthearing aids for clearer speech recognition in hearing impairedindividuals.

_r q2c q-jc ..

Product: Medieal devices, such as a cranial access port to aFlow for less invasive neurosurgery.I Eikona SystemsProduct: Military training, transp^rtation, remote data acquisi-tion and in-flight entertainment systems and software services.I Financial Technology Laboratories(www.ftlabs.com)Product: Development of software and service to distributedealer quotes to multiple trading platforms and deliver aggre-gated order flow back to the dealer over a single connection.I GEMS4lobal Engineering Management and Support.Product: Automated test equipment.I NanoVision Technologies, Inc.(www. nanovisiontech.com)Product: Development of the world's largest network for collect-ing and delivering high granularity "on-scene" weather informa-tion from hundreds of thousands of locations to high value mar-kets,I Sea-Watch(www.seawatch,net)Product: Hardware and software system that provides onlin€,monitoring and contro} of marine vessels 30 feet in length andlonger. r !,I $isam Thin Films lLG I I ',Product: Proce$s technolog/ development that enables high-per-formance, ultr+low cost manufacture of semiconductor devicessuch as solar cglls and LEDs.