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I first met Charles (Chuck) Shoopman a few years ago when I was helping to launch the Kingsport Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (KOBSE). Chuck had an idea for a Tennessee SBIR Assistance Center. SBIR (Small Business Innovation and Research) grants, as well as STTRs, which tie into university or federal research institutions, are a way for the federal government to foster innovation for a variety of needs. Chuck turned his vision into a reality with a group of East Tennessee partners.
When Charles (Chuck) Shoopman wanted to launch the Tennessee SBIR Proposal Assistance Center, he talked to a variety of partners. I heard his pitch at the 52nd Annual Governor’s Conference for Economic Development in September 2005, after I was introduced by Alex Money, a former colleague at AEDC (Arnold Engineering Development Center at Arnold Air Force Base), and thought it was a wonderful way to put expertise to work helping entrepreneurs wade through the morass of key federal research grants.
Chuck got the SBIR Assistance Center off the ground in January 2006, in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the NNSA Y-12 Facility, Technology 2020, the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley, the East Tennessee Economic Council, and Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative. Chuck is a Team Leader in Economic Development for The University of Tennnessee’s Institute for Public Service (IPS), which works alongside the UT Center for Industrial Services (an agency of IPS) that operats the Tennessee SBIR Proposal Assistance Center.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, I’m just giving context ;)
Throughout 2006, according to an IPS release, “these partnering organizations helped Tennessee small businesses secure almost $6 million of SBIR grants to fund research on new products and processes.” In 2007 they did even more, bringing our state’s woeful apply and win status up to an almost respectable level.
But there was more to do, as Tennessee lagged behind in SBIR / STTR submittals and, hence, awards. This is especially lame given Tennessee’s wealth of federal research facilities (DoE, DoD and many others are well represented in the State). From an entrepreneurial standpoint, I’m not a huge fan of STTRs, primarily because most higher education institutions appear to manipulate the percentage of the grant funding needed for things extraneous to the actual tech transfer heavily in their favor (ROI for an STTR is much better if an entrepreneur engages with a federal research facility, but that opinion may be skewed by having worked at one).
Anyway, in 2008, the Tennessee SBIR Proposal Assistance Center and Chuck’s economic development team are partnering with the Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) to help entrepreneurs and businesses across Tennessee interested in learning about SBIR / STTR grants to learn about new “Phase 0” assistance opportunities that TTDC is offering for Phase 1 grant applicants.
A series of meetings have been held in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City; I attended the latter two, as Johnson City is close to my adopted hometown of Kingsport (we leased in Johnson City when we first picked northeast Tennessee as a place to call home) and the Knoxville event provided an opportunity to view the presentation with an audience in the area of the state that’s done the best job of applying for / winning SBIR grants.
All I can say is kudos to Chuck and Eric Cromwell, TTDC’s President and CEO, for putting these events together and to TTDC for funding the Phase 0 grants (if even for only $100,000 for the first round - let’s hope they run through that quickly).
For a few more details on TTDC, see this blog posting.
A podcast of a key portion of the Knoxville event is available here.
I admired Eric Cromwell’s style during my regional economic development work. We used public funds, though, and he worked for the State, so it felt too much like pandering to say so. Recently we both changed roles: my termination from the TCEDA WTC completed a promise and let me return to real entrepreneurial work that didn’t require politispeak (just because I can doesn’t mean I like to) and Eric is rejuvenating a mostly dead not-for-profit that may rapidly bring Tennessee’s technology effort into the 21st century. I’m once again a fan.
As the head of the Tennessee Technology Development Center, Eric Cromwell advocates for entrepreneurial and technology-based economic development with a refreshing approach (or at least a familiar one, as it’s the same that I’ve advocated): keep the big box recruiting, but don’t forget the entrepreneur who will keep his/her company here even when it’s one of Tennessee’s larger employers. Think that’s unlikely? Look at FedEx and several other major companies.
We differ slightly on the way to the generate numerous startups and corporate headquarters: besides homegrown entrepreneurs, I also advocate using incubators for international companies that want to enter the US market, since the place they launch their US presence is typically also where they’ll keep their corporate headquarters (yes, for those who remember, this is one of the two main essentials of the rejected marketing plan I’d put together for the Tri-Cities WTC launch).
We both advocate a model that’s so far beyond traditional “quick win” economic development, which parses economic miracles in two-year windows, so I’m more than willing to help champion Eric’s approach. Plus, he’s concise, direct, honest and technologically savvy, all those qualities that are essential to someone dealing with the entrepreneur who has to make payroll every week.
The TTDC, according to its website, is “responsible for the technology-based economic development agenda for the State of Tennessee, . . . focuses on building innovation capacity and a climate where a knowledge-driven economic base can thrive.”
TTDC’s focus includes:
•Intellectual Infrastructure
•Mechanisms for Transferring Knowledge
•Physical [technology] Infrastructure
•Talent – Highly Skilled Workforce
•Risk/Venture Capital
In 2005 and 2006, when Eric worked for the state as part of the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development, the TTDC jointly conducted a statewide inventory of science and technology assets called the Tennessee Innovation Road Map. The intent was to provide greater clarity to existing statewide resources and the opportunities for economic expansion and diversification around core these strengths.
One of the ways that TTDC is doing something about the lack of Tennessee’s innovation on an entrepreneurial level is a new SBIR Phase 0 grant, to help companies that are applying for SBIR Phase 1 grants be able to afford the initial cost of application. More on that in the next blog post.
In the meantime, listen to the brief podcast (here) that gives TTDC’s vision and mission and next steps. Like all economic developers, Eric wants his work to lead to higher skill / wage jobs, but through wealth creation and entrepreneurial growth, not only via old school tools like abatement.
Long before I helped launch the MountainSouth World Trade Center, for northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, and even before getting involved with the Kingsport Chamber’s economic development efforts (KOSBE and HBDC), I had the privilege to serve on the board of a regional organization that exemplifies a non-partisan way of engaging the region’s potential.
The Northeast Tennessee Technology Council (NETTC) offers regional leaders a chance to educate and advocate for technology advancements in Bristol, Greeneville, Kingsport and Johnson City.
In December 2003, l was asked to join the board. At 33 years of age, and as the youngest member of the NETTC Board of Directors, I felt a burden to bridge a gap between the two generations of technology leaders in the region: the older, more established leaders that don’t necessarily see technology as their primary focus - more a means to an end of parity and economic development - and the younger group of leaders - often directly involved with technology - that see technology as entrepreneurial, enabling and a modern version of the Great Equalizer.
When I was first elected to the board, there were no tools for the younger generation, such as GeekSouth, KNETIC and HYPE (the latter two being young professional groups that were established in Kingsport and Johnson City, respectively). In addition to work done with the NETTC Tech Council, then, I also provided feedback and encouragement to GeekSouth and KNETIC as they both got off the ground.
The maturing of the Tech Council from an ad-hoc group, the rise of these other groups and the level of emerging technologies gives both generations an opportunity to seize a stake in the broader technology discussion. After being re-elected in late December 2007 to another 3 year board position, I see potential that the older group can educate our public officials, advocating needs such as higher (meaningful) broadband penetration, while the younger can both show their generation how to use the tools that expanded broadband penetration enables and nudge the older generation toward use of tools that can most help drive advocacy (like podcasting, online surveys and social networking).
A symbiotic relationship? Absolutely.
