Innovation Park close to creating research incubator

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/money/2016/10/12/innovation-park-close-creating-research-incubator/91906456/

"By 2017, Innovation Park is slated to operate a mini research-based incubator for startups and second-stage businesses. Space within the park's Collins Building looks promising. A new 10-member committee called Jump Start met for the first time Tuesday to begin setting priorities.
The park, located in southwest Tallahassee, is most known for the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and being a hub for science and engineering-based research. But for years, companies have needed a place to build products.
Tallahassee's wish list for a research-based incubator, including a wet lab, has gone unanswered. But an incubator clears a path toward economic development opportunities and reduces the chance companies may choose other areas to set up shop. Several companies have passed on Tallahassee and chose, for example, Alachua County's Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute Incubator, as an option.
"This is a pretty big deal for us,” said Ron Miller, executive director of the Leon County Research and Development Authority, which oversees the park. "What we would like to do is build an incubator that will help foster startup companies in the commercialization of technologies coming out of the universities as well as the community."
The authority used the last few years to restructure properties and gain a clearer picture of available space. A 2015 feasibility study recommended the creation of an incubator that also includes facilities for light manufacturing, prototypes and a dry lab.
Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier said now is the right time to move on building an incubator. The Collins Building has 23,000 square feet. But before the existing wet-lab space can be used, Bing Energy must remove equipment that's still in the building. Bing, a startup company specializing in fuel cell technology, was evicted in April for nonpayment and filed for bankruptcy protection. The authority has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida to let it seek legal remedies against the company in order to get the equipment out.
Dozier said the new committee will be looking to see what kind of companies should operate in the incubator and what resources, including equipment, will be needed. One option may be to build the incubator in phases in an effort to build the incubator sooner rather than later.
"We know the demand is going to keep rising,” Dozier said. "I could not be more excited for this day. For me, this is six years in trying to provide resources for our entrepreneurs."
The committee members are:

• Kristin Dozier - county commission and committee chairwoman. 
• Dustin Daniels - chief of staff for the Office of Mayor Andrew Gillum.
• Eric Holmes - assistant vice president for research, FSU.
• Reis Alsberry - director of the Office of Research, FAMU.
• Dominick Eanniello - director of incubator programs, Domi Station.
• Tim Edmond - CEO, the Edmond Group LLC.
• Wendy Plant - director of student engagement at the Jim Moran Institute of Entrepreneurship.
• Mary Jo Spector - director of research facilities design, construction and maintenance, FSU.
• Lawrence Tinker - entrepreneur in residence, Florida Institute for Commercialization of Public Research.
• Barbara Westcott - CEO and founder of Swellcoin.

Miller mentioned Domi Station as an incubator model that's been successful at bolstering tech and app-based startups, now tallied at 35 companies. But the Railroad Avenue incubator has no designated space for building.
"We are targeting a different niche," he said. “At the end of day, our mission is to create high wage jobs," Miller said. "One way we do this is through helping startup companies be successful. They can be successful commercializing some of the local technology that’s being developed. A business incubator will increase their likelihood of success.”