VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TO SPEAK AT BEN FRANKLIN TECHVENTURES2 GROUNDBREAKING
MEDIA ADVISORY:
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TO SPEAK AT
BEN FRANKLIN TECHVENTURES2 GROUNDBREAKING
Vice President Joe Biden will discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at the Ben Franklin TechVentures2 Groundbreaking:
Thursday, April 15th, 10:30 AM
Ben Franklin TechVentures2
116 Research Drive, Bethlehem
The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which owns and manages Ben Franklin TechVentures, received a $6 million grant in September 2009 to expand Ben Franklin TechVentures’ facilities, funded by the Recovery Act through the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). This grant, announced by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in September 2009, will improve Ben Franklin’s ability to provide resources, workspace, and hands-on support to early-stage technology companies, and generate new jobs during the economic recovery.
Ben Franklin TechVentures2 will be a 47,000 square-foot expansion to the original Ben Franklin TechVentures business technology incubator/post-incubator facility. Located on Lehigh University’s Mountaintop campus, it will include wet labs, office/meeting space, and parking to accommodate 260. The addition will be a certified Leadership Energy and Environmental Design, LEED, building, and will have a photovoltaic solar array on its rooftop and the latest energy management and light-harvesting technologies.
This new facility will create as many as 200 sustainable, highly paid technology jobs and retain 100 more jobs at new, start-up companies in its first three years. It will also provide job and internship opportunities for up to 20 university students each year. Twenty-three early-stage firms, employing 118 people, are currently located in Ben Franklin TechVentures. Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Business Incubator and TechVentures have graduated 44 successful companies, grossing more than $675 million in annual revenue, and creating more than 4,000 jobs. The Ben Franklin Business Incubator was named National Business Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubation Association in 2001.
Ben Franklin TechVentures2 will bring together entrepreneurs, Ben Franklin staff, and Lehigh faculty and students to accelerate the growth of the region’s technology economy. The Ben Franklin team will continue to provide TechVentures resident companies with management guidance, business planning, strategic planning, and marketing counsel; connections to angel investors and venture capitalists; and assistance in preparing and perfecting funding presentations. The facility provides an entrepreneurial culture that fuels innovation; shared basic office services and access to equipment, conference and meeting rooms; high-speed Internet; and other amenities. Ben Franklin will share its new meeting and conference facilities space with local corporate partners and programs.
In September of 2007, Ben Franklin celebrated the grand opening of Ben Franklin TechVentures. Staff projected that the 35,000 square feet of rentable space, including more than 11,000 square feet of dedicated wet lab space in TechVentures, would meet the region’s requirements for about five years. Just eighteen months after the grand opening, TechVentures was filled to near capacity. This is indicative of the tremendous demand for incubator and wet lab space in the Lehigh Valley.
The original Ben Franklin Business Incubator, located across the street from Ben Franklin Tech Ventures in Jordan Hall, had been at capacity for most of its quarter-century of operation. Ben Franklin and its economic development colleagues had to turn away promising young companies due to a lack of incubator space, and the lack of availability of wet lab space was a problem for emerging companies in many technology sectors.
Lehigh donated the TechVentures building to Ben Franklin to expand its business incubator, and Ben Franklin completely renovated this former Bethlehem Steel lab to meet the needs of today’s high-tech companies. The Ben Franklin TechVentures incubator/post incubator facility addressed both increased incubator and wet lab space needs by doubling the available wet lab space and more than tripling the office and dry lab space available when compared to the original Ben Franklin Business Incubator.
Ben Franklin funding and the reduced operating costs of starting a company in a business incubator are typically what initially draw early-stage companies to us. But the business development assistance and sharing of best practices among tenants are also keys to success, and, in retrospect, are often viewed by company leaders as the most important reason to be a Ben Franklin client.
“A cornerstone of the American economic recovery will be the creation and retention of high-value, sustainable jobs in technology sectors,” said R. Chadwick Paul, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. “Like its predecessors, Ben Franklin TechVentures2 will be a job creation factory that will accelerate our region’s economic growth.”
About the Ben Franklin Technology Partners
The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania is part of a four-center, state-funded economic development initiative that links companies with business and technical experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation. The organization’s strategy encompasses three key areas: developing early-stage, technology-oriented companies; helping established manufacturers creatively apply new technologies and business practices; and promoting an innovative community-wide infrastructure that fosters a favorable business environment for high-growth companies.
Contact: Laura S. Eppler, Director of Marketing
610.758.5237
leppler@nep.benfranklin.org
#224 – April 14, 2010
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