JVIC inspires tech dreams

But attracting technologically advanced companies to the Ozarks is no simple task.

Critics of a recent push to fund a technology park with a quarter-cent sales tax say the proposal isn’t feasible. Park proponents argue the strategy has worked well elsewhere.

“What every big city has, we can’t have,” said Deborah Atwood, one of the park’s backers. “For some reason, (community leaders) don’t want to get on the bandwagon.”

The city recently disqualified a petition with more than 1,000 signatures supporting a one-year tax to fund the park’s creation because the city charter doesn’t allow petition-driven tax initiatives.

The setback hasn’t changed Atwood’s opinion. She said Springfield should be among the cities benefiting from environmentally friendly companies that pay higher-than-average salaries.

Greg Williams, vice president of economic development at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, doesn’t disagree, but he strongly opposes a tax and thinks the tech park concept has been oversimplified.

“It is very difficult to wave one’s magic wand and say, ‘This park will be high-tech,’” Williams said, noting that many U.S. cities want to replicate the success of the country’s technology hotspots. “It’s not exclusive to Springfield, Missouri, to want to be Silicon Valley, but that’s not going to happen.”

The seed

Williams and others believe the Jordan Valley Innovation Center – a research and development facility associated with Missouri State University – may be Springfield’s best shot at convincing cutting-edge tech firms to grow their businesses here.

“It’s got to start from something, and I think JVIC is that seed,” said Greg Burris, vice president for administrative and information services at MSU. “That collaboration is going to spark a lot of interest from other high-tech firms that are going to want to come to Springfield and participate.”

A dilapidated feed mill in downtown Springfield is undergoing $12 million in major renovations to accommodate JVIC’s primary tenants: Brewer Science, Crosslink Polymer Research, Nantero and Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc.

The firms primarily specialize in nanotechnology, or the science of using organic materials such as carbon to create machines and devices so small they’re measured in nanometers, which are one-billionth of a meter.

The emerging technology is being applied to a variety of fields, such as defense, computers, textiles and health care.

The payoff

Should one or more of the companies at JVIC design a revolutionary new product, Springfield would likely be able to accommodate plans for large-scale manufacturing, said Jim Baker, vice president for research and economic development at MSU.

“We’d like to convince them it’s good to stay here,” Baker said.

Establishing and nurturing relationships with tech firms at JVIC is vital, said the chamber’s Williams.

Conveying Springfield’s strengths – a pro-business government, local resources for raising capital and ready-made manufacturing space at the Partnership Industrial Center West – could pay dividends for the community, he said.

With strict protective covenants and more than 350 acres of available land, PIC West is a tech park in the making, Williams said.

“That’s the rational and strategic approach to developing and maintaining a technologically advanced work force and business presence,” he added.

But there are no guarantees that research at JVIC will lead to manufacturing or that the companies would stay in Springfield if it did, Williams said. A technology incubator program in St. Louis County has seen numerous startup businesses on the cusp of commercialization relocate to more tech-heavy areas, he noted.

Untapped potential

Springfield may already have more tech jobs than most people realize.

As recently as last year, Springfield popped up on a list of high-tech cities compiled and published by Popular Science magazine. The city ranked No. 75 out of 127 cities based on 36 technology indicators, including robotic surgery, Wi-Fi hotspots and research and development budgets at local universities.

Minneapolis/St. Paul topped the list while Kansas City ranked No. 22 and St. Louis was No. 35.

An attempt to obtain more detailed information from Popular Science about Springfield’s strengths and weaknesses in the tech arena was unsuccessful, but the city’s Medical Mile likely played a significant role in the city’s ranking.

The hospitals have infused the region with high-paying, high-tech jobs that shouldn’t be overlooked when sizing up Springfield’s economy, MSU’s Baker said.

Similarly, several companies with manufacturing plants in Springfield incorporate high-tech elements into their production processes, Williams said.

Still, there’s a consensus Springfield can take steps to make itself more attractive to tech companies. Revising higher education curriculum to prepare students for attractive tech jobs here and ones that might soon be available is a good start, Williams said.

But Baker said promising tech fields like the ones researched at JVIC are already driving the curriculum. Many undergrads are already working alongside corporate scientists, he said.

“They’re going to be scarfed up by those companies in a heartbeat,” he said.