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KTEC nurtures IT startups

For the economic survival of any community, the diversity and the success of new small businesses is absolutely essential. Sadly, the challenges that new businesses face make the statistics of small business failures within the first year alarmingly high. Along with the high taxes paid by businesses in Ontario and the prohibitive startup costs, a community hoping to foster new ventures needs to think about new ways of making that happen. Creating an environment where small businesses can get a foothold and grow sometimes becomes the job of business incubators. Kingston's answer to this local need is the Kingston Technology Exchange Centre, located in the Queen's Bioscience Complex.

The Kingston Technology Exchange Centre's mandate is 'To promote the profitable creation of new and the growth of existing high technology enterprises in the Greater Kingston area'. KTEC houses new ventures in high technology fields such as biotechnology, information technology, life sciences and environmental technology. The 7,300 square feet of available lab space acts as an 'incubator' for new businesses giving them access to communal services, reducing overall operating costs. The goal of any incubating business is to develop with the intention of eventually 'graduating' from the complex to its own facilities here in the Greater Kingston Area.

KTEC is the product of collaboration by several key players.

First, KTEC is supported by Queen's University with the use of facilities at its newly-constructed $52.2 million Bioscience Complex. KTEC's support comes from financial assistance by HDRC (Human Resources Development Canada) and corporations such as Bell Canada.

KTEC is presently home to Performance Plants Inc., Qubit Systems Inc., Vaxis Therapeutics Corporation, Cortec DNA Services Laboratories Inc., Polyferm Canada Inc. and others.

While most of the startup companies at the KTEC facility are working in the biotechnology sector, KTEC does have facilities and features designed to assist in the development of information technology enterprises, as well.

If you have a high technology-based business idea, the KTEC Web site also affords you the opportunity to start incubating it online! Simply send e-mail to: ktec@post.queensu.ca to take advantage of the centre's online consultation service.

Continuing along these lines, KTEC is also sponsoring an Entrepreneurial Contest. The contest will judge business ideas, with a $500 prize going to the top idea and $300 to the second place finisher. Ideas may be published at the Centre's Web site at a later date - so, if your business idea is 'top secret', you should indicate that when you submit your plan. The deadline for submissions is December 12, 1999. Check out the Web site for more information.

The KTEC Web site provides information on its mandate, lists participants and sponsors, and even provides an online quiz that ranks your Entrepreneurial Traits. For more information on funding, KTEC also links to Industry Canada's listing of Technology Development Funding Sources (http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/mm01379e.html) and the Canadian Venture Capital Association (http://www.cvca.ca). There is also a nice list of online free resources for any entrepreneur starting out (http://www.entrepreneur-web.com).

More than 530 incubators have been established in North America since the first one cropped up in the late 70s. Interest in business incubation programs has grown sufficiently that it is now even recognized as an industry unto itself!

Business incubation has been an invaluable tool for many communities as it accomplishes several key goals. First, business incubation diversifies a community's local economy. Second, it supports entrepreneurship specifically in areas of the economy that are growing the fastest and creating the most new revenue.

The Kingston Technology Exchange Centre promises to continue being a great tool for helping to diversify Kingston's high technology industry. With its communal approach to fostering new ventures, KTEC should ensure Kingston growing recognition as a key centre for technology-based industry.

KTEC Home Page: http://www.queensu.ca/ktec/home.html

Business Spotlight on the KEDCO Web site: http://www.kingstonarea.on.ca/business/ktec.html

Links to other business incubation sites: http://www.queensu.ca/ktec/business_incubation.html