Georgetown becomes home to new life sciences center
Georgetown becomes home to new life sciences center
Written by Shannon Colletti Friday, 07 September 2007
Georgetown is dipping its toe into the biotechnology industry with the addition of a cutting-edge, regional life sciences hub.
In an effort to further scientific research and diversify the city’s tax base, a few pioneering businessmen came up with an idea two and a half years ago and joined forces to establish the Texas Life-Sciences Commercialization Center off IH 35B, north of Inner Loop.
Russ Peterman, president of CTO K Peterman Consulting Associates and one of the project’s driving forces, will be in charge of management, recruitment and fund raising.
“The basic idea is that we want to create a regional center in Georgetown to nurture life science companies,” Peterman said. “The goal is job creation and tax diversification for Georgetown.”
Recruiting the companies
TLC2, which uses Frisco’s North Texas Enterprise Center as a model, will eventually be home to numerous small biotech companies that can share resources and expertise as they pursue their own scientific endeavors. The center already has two buildings with three tenants: Radix BioSolutions, whose products are used in the medical diagnostic area and pharmaceutical research; Orthopeutics, L.P., which pursues non-surgical solutions for common orthopedic problems; and nanotechnology company Quantum Logic Devices.
Although similar in concept to a typical business incubator, Peterman said TLC2 distinguishes itself in one very important way: The center seeks companies that are past the research and development stage. They’ve already defined their product, have some funding and are about to hire many people.
“We’re not trying to be a university incubator, where you do research and you’re basically starting from scratch with growing a business concept,” he said. “We’re looking for companies well past that, on the verge of commercialization of their product or service.”
The ideal TLC2 companies must meet certain criteria, in addition to being in the post-incubation stage. They must be small, with about three to five
employees. They must also be in the biotechnology field.
Peterman said the goal for TLC2 is to attract similar companies to create a cluster that can mutually benefit each other.
Kerry Oliver is CEO of Radix BioSolutions, the first company to sign with TLC2.
“We’re really excited about the center’s use of different small companies that have different areas of expertise and can work together to produce something that none of us by ourselves could be able to produce,” Oliver said.
Who’s behind the center
Peterman said the City of Georgetown has supported the center, and on Aug. 28, council members approved funding for it. Although TLC2 has the city’s support, it will be a non-profit corporation.
In addition to financial backing from the city, funding has come from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Southwestern University. Peterman said several additional sources are pending.
Tim Harris, president of Georgetown Commercial Properties, has been another integral part of the center’s inception. His company is providing the buildings.
U.S. Rep. John Carter, whose platforms include veteran’s health care and homeland security, said that TLC2 will put the biotech industry “on the edge of a miracle” for all those suffering from illnesses.
An economic difference
The traditional economic development model in Georgetown hinges on seeking big employers by providing them with big incentives and then watching them create a multitude of jobs.
TLC2 is based on a different model, however. Harris gives much credit for the concept of TLC2 to Oliver, who indicated that if they could find a way to nurture small biotech companies past the incubation stage but ready to produce a product, they could attract early-stage companies that could grow into big employers. This tactic would be a non-traditional approach to economic development.
Peterman said that according to the economic development model, for every primary job created with this center, there will be approximately 5.7 other jobs created, because of the economic impact of the high-paying jobs.
Why Georgetown?
Several factors make Georgetown “uniquely qualified” to house the center, Peterman said. Location is one.
“We’re close to UT, A&M and Fort Hood,” he said, “and a lot of other things that need biotech services or have a biotech culture.”
AngelouEconomics did a study that indicated the biotech sector will be experiencing huge growth in future years and that centers like TLC2 work well about 30 miles from major universities, such as UT.
Another factor is the plethora of human resources willing to offer business advice.
“We have a huge wealth in Georgetown of intellectual property in terms of Sun City retirees and biotech executives who’ve expressed an interest and are willing to donate their time to help these companies,” he said. “They’ve been where these companies are.”
A lower cost of operations, proximity to medical schools and hospitals and good quality of life are still more factors.
The next steps
TLC2 plans include adding two more buildings to their 5.5-acre lot soon and expanding even more in the future.
The center’s greatest challenge will be to become self-sustaining in the next three years, which isn’t easy, Peterman said.
“The miracle,” he added, “is that so many innovative things are happening with these biotech companies that can really change healthcare.”
Eric Hauck, president/CEO of Orthopeutics, relocated his company to Georgetown from San Diego Aug. 10. He explained his decision for the move.
“We were trying to find a place that would allow us to maximize the investment dollars that were put into our company,” he said. “We went on a nationwide search and what we found was in Georgetown. This new biotech corridor that they’re trying to build [is] most suited to what we thought would be the most fertile place for us to start our company. Georgetown offers a very nice lifestyle, great people, a good business environment and a place where our families could grow up and we’d be happy about it.”
TLC2’s potential impact on the community
According to the founders of TLC2, the life-sciences center might have many advantages for Georgetown.
- Innovation-based economic development in Georgetown will be established by creating a non-profit, post-incubation biotech commercialization center
- The nexus of a new life-sciences cluster in the five-county region will be formed
- High-paying, sustainable jobs will be added to create wealth and diversify the tax base for the entire community
- Long-term capital investment will be stimulated
- The investment in biotech will be leveraged into a broader ‘technology gateway’ in southern Georgetown and along the Chisholm Technology Corridor between Georgetown and Round Rock
- Scientific advancements will be enhanced for the university community as well as the benefit of mankind
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