International Conference Examines Business Incubators as Tools for Accelerating Economic Growth

May 7, 2001

Contact:
Linda Knopp, PR Specialist
(740) 593-4154 lknopp@nbia.org

ATHENS, Ohio—Encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting small business development are two key ways to jump-start a slowing economy, according to Dinah Adkins, president and chief executive officer of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA).

"Entrepreneurship is strongly associated with economic growth," she said. "Business incubators help entrepreneurs translate their ideas into sustainable businesses by guiding them through the maze of starting and growing a thriving business."

More than 700 economic development professionals, incubator managers, public policy makers, educators, and business and civic leaders will gather in San Jose, Calif., May 19-22, during NBIA's annual conference to discuss strategies for expanding small business opportunities through business incubation.

The 15th International Conference on Business Incubation will include numerous networking opportunities, industry exhibits and nearly 70 educational sessions building on the theme Innovate, Incubate, Accelerate. Sessions will cover all aspects of business incubation from best practices to new models to industry sector specific topics.

The conference will also include tours of several area incubators, including the San Jose Arts Incubator, the Software Business Cluster, the Environmental Business Cluster and the International Business Incubator, all of which are located within walking distance of the conference headquarters at The San Jose Fairmont Hotel.

Previously the center of a fruit-growing region, San Jose is now best known for its technology industry — an industry in which business incubation has played a major role.
"The Silicon Valley is truly an entrepreneurial hotbed," Adkins said. "With the depth and breadth of support programs available to entrepreneurs in this area, new businesses that are located in-or thinking of locating in-a business incubator have a wealth of resources from which to draw."

During the conference, three Internet start-up companies will compete for a $200,000 e-scholarship package of hardware, software and consulting services in the Hewlett-Packard Business Plan Competition. MarinaLife LLC, of Baltimore, Md.; FulFill-Net Solutions Inc., of Troy, N.Y., and ComMira E-Solutions Ltd. of San Francisco will present their business plans to a panel of venture capitalists during a May 21 session.

Conference keynote speakers will be Cate Muther, founder and president of the Three Guineas Fund; Katsuhiro Nakagawa, chairman of Tokio Marine Capital Co., Ltd.; Jan Piercy, U.S. executive director of the World Bank, and David Wilhelm, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and president of Wilhelm and Conlon Public Strategies.

Since the first program opened in Batavia, N.Y., in 1959, business incubators have served as economic development tools that accelerate the growth of new and emerging companies by providing business support resources and services. The incubator's goal is to graduate successful firms that leave the program financially viable and freestanding, bringing employment and benefits to local workers.

A study commissioned by the Department of Commerce found that while only 60 percent of non-incubated small businesses are still operating after three years, the survival rate for incubated firms is 87-90 percent. The study also found that every 50 jobs created by an incubator firm generates another 25 outside the incubator. Since 1980, incubator clients have created more than half a million jobs in North America.

In recent years, the incubation model has been successfully adapted to meet a variety of needs, from fostering commercialization of university technologies to increasing employment and entrepreneurial role models in economically distressed communities to serving as an investment vehicle.

Conference sponsors include: Hewlett-Packard; Nortel Networks; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Silicon Valley Bank; Dun & Bradstreet; Japan Association of New Business Incubation Organizations (JANBO); Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership; City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency; Exodus Communications; NSTL-National Software Testing Labs; Panasonic Digital Concepts Center; City of San Jose Arts Incubator; Turnstone, a Steelcase Company; Women's Technology Cluster, and XPLANE.

The Pacific Incubation Network, a regional association of business incubation and economic development professionals, will serve as local host for the event.

For more information about the conference or the business incubation industry, please contact NBIA at 20 East Circle Dr., #37198, Athens, Ohio, 45701, (740) 593-4331, or visit the organization's Web site www.nbia.org.