small business adviser
by ted knous

Just add water? Not exactly, says R.W. Trewyn, vice provost for research at Kansas State University. What works for a plant seed will not work for an entrepreneur who hopes to germinate a good idea into a healthy, thriving business.

As president of the Kansas State University Research Foundation (KSURF), Trewyn has worked with numerous entrepreneurs to take ideas from the abstract into the economy. Trewyn advocates that a research-intensive university has a responsibility to discover new knowledge and communicate it for the betterment of society. What better way to communicate those ideas and discoveries than through commercial product or technological development? Several great ideas for possible products and services have been launched through KSURF’s partnership with the Mid-America Commercialization Corporation (MACC), a business incubator located in Manhattan, Kan.

While a great idea, like a good seed, is a great start for a new business, it will only go so far without support and nutrients. Luckily, many communities offer help for the early-stage business in the form of business incubators, which provide an array of planning, finance, and management services—the nurture and support. According to the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), an entrepreneur can choose from more than 900 incubator programs in the United States. These are good investments for the communities because incubators create jobs, diversify economies, commercialize dormant technologies and create wealth.Incubator clients vary, according to the NBIA. Nearly 10 percent of incubators focus on assisting start-up companies from a specific industry, such as biomedicine or food protection. One quarter of incubator clients focus on technology, and 10 percent are in manufacturing.

Clients also vary in what services and products they need from the incubator. One prime example is MACC, which provides laboratory, office and light manufacturing facilities and administrative support for new venture businesses, ones being created by regional entrepreneurs and particularly by university researchers through a technology transfer partnership with KSU Research Foundation.Even though this type of business incubation is a proven model, young businesses must be certain that all the expertise, networks and tools they need are available to make their ventures successful. They must look for an incubator that can provide the support needed to move toward sustainability while they focus on developing technology or product.
The client should be looking for such things as strategic planning, business-plan development, direct management assistance, recommendations for an effective and committed board of directors, and providing administrative, financial and product-to-market capabilities.

An effective incubator should provide other nurturing and supportive services like marketing help, intellectual property management, assistance with securing financing, and flexibility in obtaining resources for whatever the development needs of the client might be. An incubator should also help a new business integrate into the community and find its fit within the economic development goals of that community, that is, help transplant the new business.

The incubator must provide access to quality and appropriate rental space, with administrative services and equipment, technology support services, and a management team that can focus and guide the new business. It also must provide marketing, financing, and product development opportunities for the new venture to capitalize upon.The goal of any young business is to "graduate" from its incubator as a freestanding and financially viable enterprise. Therefore a mutually beneficial relationship must be established.

Two principles of effective business incubation are needed, according to the NBIA:
• The incubator must continually focus on having a positive impact on its community’s economic health by maximizing the success of the emerging companies; and
• The incubator itself must become a dynamic model of a sustainable, efficient business operation. Following these two principles, organizations like KSURF and MACC are dedicated to germinating and growing new ventures and, upon their "graduation," transplanting them into the regional economy.

Ted. R. Knous, Ph.D., is associate vice provost for technology transfer and research administration. He may be reached by phone at 785.532.6195 or by e-mail at tknous@ksu.edu.