Incubator Roundup
NBIA Members Incubate Incubation in Corporate America

Entrepreneurship in big business may sound like an oxymoron, but three companies are trying to change that, with the help of some people who know a thing or two about nurturing startups.

In St. Louis, Bob Calcaterra is helping Monsanto Corp. develop an incubator for life-sciences and biotechnology startups. The Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, slated to open in May, will be a 40,000-square-foot facility with wet and dry lab space, offices and a business and technical support program.

Establishing the Nidus Center is part of Monsanto's strategy for developing the St. Louis area into a plant science center. It is located near another facility in which Monsanto has a stake: the Danforth Center, a nonprofit, St. Louis-based research facility dedicated to the plant sciences, which is expected to be one of the world's largest and most advanced centers of its kind. "Monsanto ... is trying to establish St. Louis as the leading region in the country for plant science as far as research is concerned," said Calcaterra, former CEO of the Arizona Technology Incubator and now a member of NBIA's Advisory Council.

By drawing world-class life sciences professionals to the area, the incubator will help build a pool of people for Monsanto to work with and hire. The Nidus Center will also help Monsanto commercialize some of its own life-sciences technologies.

Calcaterra was named president and CEO of the Nidus Center in February, and since then Monsanto has turned over to him nearly every aspect of the center's development. "In my experience, there has never been an incubator which -- before its doors are even opened -- enjoys so many advantages critical to the success of any incubator."

Jim Robbins is involved with a similar project in Cupertino, Calif., where he is helping Panasonic develop an incubator for technology companies related to consumer electronics products. Panasonic tapped Robbins for his expertise because he had completed a similar project for Digital Equipment Corp. and has developed incubators throughout California.

The Panasonic Digital Concepts Center will be a 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot facility located in the same complex as Panasonic's Silicon Valley offices. Companies housed in the Center will have the opportunity to partner with the electronics company and take advantage of its distribution capabilities, manufacturing power and brand name.

Startups at the Panasonic center also will have access to a $50 million venture fund operated by Matsushita, a maker of Panasonic products. The incubator and the venture capital fund will operate as a single unit, although there is no guarantee of funding for incubated companies. "I think [Panasonic is] the first to combine a private high-tech corporate partnership in an industry-focused incubator with a private corporation venture fund," Robbins said.

Ball Aerospace Technologies hasn't established a venture fund for its internal incubator, but the company is providing about $1 million a year for its "companies" -- projects that have evolved from research within Ball and are being developed by Ball employees. The president of the Boulder, Colo., company decided to start the incubator as a business development arm, and he asked Jerry Donahue, director of the Boulder Technology Incubator, to help.

Ball believed starting an incubator for employee-developed projects would be a good way to keep and motivate talented people by allowing them some creative license in developing their own products. "That's a little bit foreign to a lot of organizations," Donahue said.

Entrepreneurs have access to business and financial advice from advisors within Ball and outside consultants, just as clients in a traditional incubator without walls would have. The projects are evaluated each year and must meet certain benchmarks to qualify for continued funding. -- Jen Agoston

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