The corner of South Stadium Drive and East Parker used to be home to the AgCenter barn. Now it is simply a pile of wood, but by 2005 it will be the Louisiana Emerging Technologies Center.
As a part of the University Master Plan, the Emerging Technologies Center will serve as a home to growing businesses that need offices and lab space.
The LSU System Research and Technology Foundation owns the center and will serve as its administrator.
Paula Jacobi, chief executive officer of the Foundation said, “It is open to companies in the fields of biotechnology, life science, agriculture, environmental science and other similar areas that need wet lab space for product or processed development in the course of business.”
Currently, the Foundation is seeking an anchor company to commit to the location and also help attract other businesses.
TransGenRx, a pharmaceutical company that developed out of research at the University AgCenter, is considering the option.
“I would like [TransGenRx], but I don’t know [about] that,” Jacobi said. “The truth is, the executive director of the incubator is going to have the responsibility of finding companies and getting them to relocate.”
The executive director position is yet to be filled.
AgCenter Director of Research Bill Brown said the center is commonly referred to as a “wet lab incubator.”
The “incubator” is designed to foster economic development by taking the research performed at the AgCenter and relaying it directly to the businesses, eventually making money for Louisiana.
The $10 million center was one of three approved by the state. The Foundation also received federal assistance and a discounted land lease from the University to cover its costs.
With a convenient on-campus location, Jacobi said the companies will be closer to the actual researchers and able to utilize necessary equipment that they may not otherwise have access to.
The center also hopes to create a mechanism to spur business in these fields.
“There is lots of research, but not a lot of companies in the life sciences and biotech fields,” Jacobi said. “This will create a support system to help.”
On a national level, Jacobi said there has been a shortage of this kind of space, but with reduced tenant expenses and the support system of other businesses, she anticipates that in time the center will be full and may even need to expand.
“To me, it’s very exciting,” Jacobi said. “This benefits the people. Taxpayers’ money pays for the research and now it will go out of the lab into the commercial sector.”
Construction on the center will begin in April.