Companies with tremendous growth potential don't always take root in big metropolitan areas. That's why connecting promising, high-growth companies with the capital they need—regardless of where they are located in Pennsylvania—is one of Ben Franklin Technology Partners' core commitments. Similarly, an entrepreneur with a great idea for a new technology needs more than just motivation to create a successful company. It takes a network of expertise and infrastructure to support the business's immediate and long-term needs.

Other BFTP/CNP Collaborative Efforts Technology Intern Program BFTP/CNP partnered with the Central PA Tech Council, DCED, and MANTEC, one of the region's Industrial Resource Centers, in September of 2007 by administering a $100,000 grant designed to help manufacturers and engineering firms target new technology-savvy interns for a 14-week period. A total of 33 students were placed in 30 companies. Marketing Research Support BFTP/CNP partnered with the northwestern Industrial Resource Center and the Center for e-Business and Advanced IT to offer the services of a marketing research specialist to the existing manufacturers in northwestern PA. The Ben Franklin Transformations Business Services Network facilitated this effort by sharing manpower, database search services and Penn State University library access. Assistance for Businesses Outside KIZs The Commercialization and Innovation Collaborative (CIC) of northwestern PA is a network of economic development organizations and area colleges/universities, including the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central/Northern PA, the Center for e-Business and Advanced IT, northwestern PA IRC, the Tech Council of northwestern PA, Penn State Erie–the Behrend College, Gannon University, the Plastics Technology Center and Mercyhurst College, that facilitates systematic business assistance to the existing businesses in northwestern PA that do not fall within a Keystone Innovation Zone. B. J. Lechner, Director of Growth Services for the NWIRC, commented, "The CIC was created in the summer of 2006 as an outgrowth activity of the state's KIZ program. Our steering committee meets monthly to discuss pending projects and assign case managers to particular business owners. Currently, more than two dozen companies have been served by this partnership."

BFTP's Central/Northern PA office serves a 32-county footprint that includes Harrisburg but also encompasses a large rural population with economic development needs that are unique among the four regional BFTP partners. For 25 years, BFTP has been partnering and collaborating to help catalyze and build a technology economy infrastructure that supports early-stage companies’ most critical needs.

Recent collaboration activities in support of the region are highlighted here.

New Technology-Based Business Incubator Planned for Erie
Gannon University and the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corporation are using the $4,000,000 in funds presented to Gannon in 2006 by Governor Ed Rendell to develop a technology-based incubator. The Erie Technology Incubator (ETI) will help stimulate the development of advanced technologies and promote the formation, growth and retention of early-stage technology-based companies in northwest Pennsylvania. ETI will also promote the research that exists in the area's institutions of higher education into opportunities for commercialization that will create high-end employment.

This incubator will be located on the downtown campus of Gannon University in what was formerly a Boys and Girls Club in the center of Erie's Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ). Businesses that locate in the incubator will have access to the talent and skill sets of Gannon's faculty, students and Small Business Development Center, as well as the services of the area's economic development community as a whole.

The incubator project is designed to stimulate the development of advanced technologies in areas such as computer and information systems, bio-science and engineering. Past Ben Franklin funding ($10,000) was used to help pay for the initial feasibility study for this project, and most of the current funding request will be used toward the salary of the newly hired executive director. A small amount of center funds will also be used in the development of marketing materials for the incubator.

Entrepreneurs Look Forward to New Business Plan Contests
BFTP CNP, in conjunction with the Venture Investment Forum, funded three new local business plan contests at the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) at Penn State, Kutztown and Shippensburg universities. These new events expand the current offerings at Clarion, St. Francis, Lock Haven and Gannon universities. Including new SBDCs created an opportunity for BFTP to more effectively cover the entire 32-county region it serves.

"Over the years, we have partnered with Ben Franklin on a variety of programs, but the Big IDEA Business Plan Contest creates the most excitement for the entrepreneurs we work with on a daily basis. The opportunity to win $25,000 to help get their business off the ground is exciting to them and much appreciated," says Deb Steiner, SBDC director. Plans are in the works for a regionwide contest with prize money totaling $100,000.

Gannon has partnered with CNP for several years, but 2008 marks the first year that Kutztown University's SBDC sponsored an event. The winning company, the Markenson Group, received their check in the office of Senator Michael Brubaker in January. The company entered the contest with a patent-pending portable cooling product that helps control pain and inflammation. John McKowen, assistant director of the Kutztown SBDC, says, "This contest is a great way for entrepreneurs to get some funding, but it also helps them prepare to present to other potential investors."