Dartmouth Regional Technology Center Gets $4 Million Stimulus Money Grant
Technology
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Sept. 23, 2009
WASHINGTON – A $4 million federal stimulus money grant will allow the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center in Lebanon to almost double the size of its facility.
The center, a private nonprofit formed in 2004 to help start-up businesses by providing office and manufacturing space and support programs, has 32,500 square feet of space. The expansion will add 28,000 square feet, according to Gregg Fairbrothers, executive director of Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, which works with the center.
The center functions as a technology incubator by giving new companies a home at a reasonable rent until they can afford to move into their own facilities.
“Expanding the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center will help expand the North Country’s growing technology sector and create more than 100 jobs in the area,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who announced the grant Tuesday with Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H.
Shaheen said the investment would particularly help communities in the North Country, “where we must grow emerging industries so that the region can adapt to the changing economy. This grant will help put Granite Staters back to work, which is exactly what we need.”
Hodes said, “This funding will help high-tech firms relocate to the most economically distressed regions of New Hampshire to bring good-paying, long-term jobs to the Granite State.”
In addition to the incubator spaces, the center offers networking for financial information, business resources and seminars to the companies. There are now eight companies in the center.
“New companies start with zero jobs, by definition,” Fairbrothers said. “They usually move into the incubators at most a couple of jobs. As they grow, they obviously start to hire people. The creation of the jobs and the development of new technology are obviously the benefit to the marketplace.”
Mascoma Corporation, one of the first tenants, moved out of the center for a bigger facility r earlier this month. The company had 12 employees in 2006 when it moved in and has 120 employees now, according to Nathan Margolis, the company’s laboratory manager. Mascoma develops low-carbon biofuels technology.
“It’s a really spectacular environment,” Margolis said. “You can imagine all the different ways to help a small company that is trying to focus on developing some new technology. You don’t want to be dealing with snow removal, or something like that. They provide you with laboratory facility and even more technical things. For example, mechanics; they have people who work on technology equipment.”
Adimab Inc., which does research on developing antibodies, moved into the center two years ago and has expanded its staff from 5 people to 43 , according to Errik Anderson, chief operating officer. The company, which once occupied 4,500 square feet, has doubled its space to 9,000 square feet.
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