Brewer Science first to sign on

It has grown from a small startup to a global business employing 329 people in 17 offices in nine countries.

But its latest expansion is much closer to home.

Brewer Science was the first to sign a lease for space in Jordan Valley Innovation Center, the cooperative project of the city of Springfield and Missouri State University. The agreement gives the company an entire floor in the new facility, expected to open in 2007, at a cost of about $1 million over 10 years.

Robin van der Wel, the company’s director of external research and development, said the company’s research has a wide variety of applications.

“Brewer Science makes innovative chemical and instrument solutions, and our focus has always been on providing these products to businesses,” he said. “Our technology can be found in electronic devices, computers, anything that can be used by government or the end consumer.”

The firm has research agreements and partnerships with numerous companies and institutions globally, such as the University of Missouri-Rolla and Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd. of Japan. Its products are being used by the National Optics Institute, based in Quebec City, Quebec.

JVIC is drawing research firms such as Brewer because of the companies’ ability to control the research that will be done there, according to Ryan Giedd, director of MSU’s Center for Applied Science and Engineering.

“That’s a big draw because they don’t lose any of their patent rights if they come to work with us, and they can collaborate with university professors on projects and not lose their patent rights,” Giedd told SBJ earlier this year.

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