The University of New Mexico’s (UNM) tech cluster is on the rise, according to its tech transfer office (TTO) Science and Technology Corp (STC).
The Albuquerque-based TTO reports that it will have broken its annual record for spin-outs by the end of the fiscal year on 30 June, adding 9 new firms to a total of over 60 STC-supported companies since the TTO’s inception in 1995.
Around 36 of the firms are still operating in the New Mexico area, with 29 in Albuquerque itself. Two companies commercialising UNM technology, biotech nanoMR and cytometry system developer IntelliCyt, have both reached headcounts of 30.
STC president and chief executive Lisa Kuuttila is seeking to capitalise on the tech cluster’s record by creating a new innovation hub, Innovate ABQ, to attract and retain talent in the area. She said: “It will be a place where people congregate, hold events, attend programs and work on projects and businesses. We’ll start with an incubator building for startups that either launch with UNM technologies or that form independently and want to locate there. As a hub concept, we also expect to attract many service providers, such as accountants, attorneys, and software and Web developers.”
Based loosely on University of Florida at Gainesville’s Innovation Square, the new development will include student housing, apartments, a hotel and retail businesses. UNM is leading an Economic Development Advisory Group in collaboration with public officials and local businesses, which has attracted $2m from the Albuquerque City Council in city bond funding to help launch Innovate ABQ.
Bob Frank, UNM president, said: “Everywhere I go in the state, people are talking about how to create these knowledge jobs in New Mexico. Everyone realises that we have to change how we work to do that. It’s all about entrepreneurialism. UNM has been helping to launch startups for many years, but I want to greatly increase the pace, and we can’t do that by ourselves. We need to reach out to make this a broad community goal.”
