NBIA Honors Excellence in Business Incubation
April 28, 2009
Contact:
Linda Knopp
Director of News & Information
National Business Incubation Association
(740) 593-4331
lknopp@nbia.org
ATHENS, Ohio—The National Business Incubation Association honored seven top incubation programs, clients and graduates during the 23rd International Conference on Business Incubation in Kansas City, Mo., April 21.
Winners include the San Jose BioCenter of San Jose, Calif.; Todd Street Business Chambers of Port Adelaide, Australia; Louisiana Business & Technology Center of Baton Rouge, La.; CSA Medical of Baltimore; Consultants 2 Go of Newark, N.J.; DocuTAP of Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Alfresco Pergolas and Design of Port Adelaide, Australia.
Business incubation programs catalyze the process of starting and growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. NBIA estimates that in 2005 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 27,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenue of more than $17 billion. Approximately 5,000 business incubators operate worldwide.
The San Jose BioCenter received the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award and the Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year award in the technology category. The BioCenter provides emerging science and technology companies with access to world-class facilities and support typically available only to larger firms. Since opening in August 2004, the incubator has assisted 60 clients and graduated 14 companies.
NBIA’s most prestigious honor, the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award is presented annually in honor of Dr. Whaley, the association’s first board chairman. NBIA’s Incubator of the Year awards in the technology and nontechnology categories were renamed this year to honor Dinah Adkins, the association’s longtime chief executive, who is set to retire soon.
Todd Street Business Chambers was named Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year in the nontechnology category. The city of Port Adelaide Enfield started the incubation program in 1999 to rejuvenate the small business economy in the region by attracting and growing new enterprises. In its 10-year history, the program has graduated 49 companies that have produced combined annual revenue of AUS$147 million and created 148 full-time jobs.
The Louisiana Business & Technology Center received the Incubator Innovation Award for its Incubator on Wheels, an 18-wheel mobile classroom, replete with state-of-the-art audio/visual capabilities, a large plasma screen monitor and broadband wireless Internet connection. The mobile incubator has focused on business recovery and development in areas devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and Gustav and Ike in 2008.
CSA Medical, a client of the Emerging Technology Centers in Baltimore, received the Outstanding Incubator Client award in the technology category. CSA Medical designs, develops and distributes the CryoSpray Ablation system, a therapy that allows physicians to spray supercool liquid nitrogen on unwanted tissue.
Consultants 2 Go, a marketing and sales consulting firm that provides large and mid-size companies with professionals to complete projects that do not require full-time workers or to fill in for employees on leave, received the Outstanding Incubator Client award in the nontechnology category. Consultants 2 Go is a client of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Development Center in Newark, N.J.
A graduate of the South Dakota Technology Business Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., DocuTAP was named Outstanding Incubator Graduate in the technology category. The company offers a proprietary electronic workflow solution to healthcare clinics, with an emphasis on urgent care clinics. The DocuTAP system is designed to improve the quality of patient care, ease the workload on care providers and increase clinics’ profitability.
Alfresco Pergolas and Design, a graduate of Todd Street Business Chambers in Port Adelaide, Australia, received the Outstanding Incubator Graduate award in the nontechnology category. Alfresco Pergolas and Design has carved its own niche in the property construction market by offering a design and prefabricated construction service for both the home and commercial markets.
The National Business Incubation Association is the world’s leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. Each year, the NBIA Incubation Awards honor the business incubation programs, graduates and client companies that exemplify the best of the industry.
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Phone: (740) 593-4331
Fax: (740) 593-1996
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Athens, OH 45701-1565
info@nbia.org