Eastern Technology Council: Bringing “Contacts and Capital” to Eastern Pennsylvania
When you have something big to move, you can always use some extra muscle. Such is the relationship between the Eastern Technology Council and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA (BFTP/SEP).
“The people at BFTP do the heavy lifting. We make it easier for them to do it,” says Dr. Donna Gentile O’Donnell, managing director of the life sciences portfolio for the Eastern Technology Council (Tech Council) in Philadelphia. “That’s why we’re such good partners.”
The Tech Council serves leaders of more than 700 technology and life sciences companies by providing valuable contacts, capital, information and education through a wide variety of events, publications and innovative services.
A Legacy of Leadership
“We do a lot of science and technology summits, provider programs and industry-targeted education,” O’Donnell says. “And embedded into the Tech Council is the sense of creativity, optimism and growth.”
The Tech Council’s core values are due in part to the organization’s founders, O’Donnell says. “First, you have Dr. Frank Baldino, who is the founder and CEO of one of the most successful biotech companies in the world-Cephalon. The main objective of most biotech companies is to get acquired by pharmaceutical companies. Cephalon acquires pharmaceutical companies-so Dr. Baldino is a guy who breaks the mold,” she says. “And then there was Hubert Schoemaker, who was a brilliant scientist and a tremendous optimist.”
Smart Division of Labor
Key to the Tech Council’s relationship with Ben Franklin is understanding the best division of labor. “BFTP provides the critical mass that’s necessary for all kinds of initiatives, and we provide a nice adjunct to that,” she says. “Our motto is Contacts and Capital. We focus on creating a higher level of awareness among entrepreneurs about funding and networking.”
The Tech Council has partnered with BFTP/SEP on many projects and initiatives over the years, most recently on a series of three nanotechnology forums sponsored by the Nanotechnology Institute (NTI), a partnership among BFTP/SEP, The University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University; and the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance (MANA), a partnership between Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The forums focused on nano-energy, nano-materials and nano-bio and emphasized the NTI’s mission to break down barriers to commercialization.
Presentations highlighted technology from regional institutions (Drexel, Penn, Penn State, Temple) coupled with national nanotechnology initiatives in government (NASA, Department of Energy, NCI/NIH). Corporate participation was also a key component of these forums with representation from small emerging companies (Nanoblox, pChem) and large multinational companies (Air Products, Battelle, Elan).
“The people who started BFTP 25 years ago were committed to the growth and vision of technology, and it’s just as important to them today. As partners, the Tech Council works to contribute mightily to the Commonwealth’s capacity to produce value in technology and life sciences,” says O’Donnell.
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