Business incubator could be in Columbia's future

By Michael Sewall

Published Feb. 16, 2007

While the debate over the sale of assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority rages on in the Missouri Senate, Columbia residents could still expect a business incubator in the future.

The incubator, which is a part of a higher education bill sponsored by Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, would serve as a home to up-and-coming businesses, research and ideas in Columbia.

Last week, funding for the incubator, along with six other building projects, was cut from the bill in the Senate Education Committee. Nodler presented the Senate with a substitute version of the bill Wednesday, which includes the building projects.

"I've always been in favor of including all the buildings in the bill," Nodler said.

No vote was reached Wednesday, and debate is expected to carry into next week.

Nodler said the buildings could still be taken out of the bill.

If the funding for the buildings were taken out again, MU would still pursue the funding to construct a business incubator.

"Should the Lewis and Clark initiative not come through or be delayed, the university feels so strongly about the project that it will commit to cover any gap that remains once we know the total funding received," MU spokesman Christian Basi said.

The initiative would provide $2 million in funding for the project, but MU had plans in 2005 to construct an incubator before the MOHELA sale was introduced.

After a 2005 grant of $2.5 million from the Economic Development Administration put total funding for the project at $6.6 million, only an estimated $2.1 million was needed to begin construction.

When Gov. Matt Blunt announced the MOHELA sale, funding efforts for the project were put on hold. Since then, an ongoing debate about the sale has left MU to consider other possible options.

"We would use funds generated by research," Basi said. "And we already have patents in place."

With the rising cost of construction, the estimated total funding necessary hovers around $9.5 million, Innovation Center President Jake Halliday said.

Halliday said the funding in the past has come from corporations, businesses and individuals, and the funds are still with MU.

Halliday said the incubator would hold 11 to 12 businesses.

"When we open, we'll begin with three or four," Halliday said.

Companies would "graduate" after three years if they have gained enough resources to go into the "real world."

Debate continues in the General Assembly because of funding for buildings that could possibly foster stem-cell research.

Basi was unavailable to comment about whether the incubator could foster stem-cell research if no funds were obtained through the MOHELA sale.

Nodler said the Missouri Development Finance Board entered into an agreement to prohibit stem-cell research in any buildings funded by the sale.

Regardless of the ongoing debate in Jefferson City, Columbia should expect a Life Sciences Business Incubator in the future.

House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, expressed the incubator's significance.

"The business incubator is an important facility to market and for new-economy business," he said.