SBDC: 2005 a sustainable year of growth

However, the Nov. 29 groundbreaking of the Jordan Valley Innovation Center takes the cake, according to Springfield Business & Development Corp. CEO Greg Williams, commenting on the recently released SBDC annual report.

“In my opinion … the next big thing for this community is Jordan Valley Innovation Center,” he said.

“The real beauty of that operation is it’s not an incubator, it’s an innovation center. These are existing companies with product that is being advanced to a (research and development) stage and is darn close to commercialization.”

JVIC, a partnership between the city and Missouri State University, will be a nanotechnology research complex at the site of the former MFA mill at Boonville and Phelps.

Nanotechnology is the science of using organic materials such as carbon to create machines and devices so small they’re measured not in millimeters, which are thousandths of a meter, but in nanometers – billionths of a meter.

The National Science Foundation predicts that nanotechnology will be a $1 trillion industry in 15 years, so it’s little wonder that Williams is excited about Springfield’s opportunity to carve a niche in the market.

Brewer Science, Crosslink and Nantero have signed on as tenants so far for the $12 million project, but up to 20 more could fill JVIC once it’s operational in 2007.

However, Williams noted that other universities and communities in Massachusetts and North Carolina are attempting the same thing. He said JVIC likely wouldn’t make Springfield the nanotechnology version of Silicon Valley.

“That would be an extravagant comparison,” he said.

But, he added, it could put “Springfield on the map for advanced R&D.”

The SBDC has entered into an official memorandum of understanding with MSU to support the development of JVIC and to promote it.

Progress report

In 2002, Williams said he and his colleagues noticed the SBDC, established in 1983, wasn’t keeping up with the Joneses. Economic development groups in similar cities were outpacing SBDC’s fund-raising.

That’s when they started a five-year initiative called Partnership for Prosperity.

The SBDC got more aggressive in its economic development efforts and increased the corporate investment baseline from $1,000 to $2,500. Since then, the number of corporate investors has jumped from about 60 to 90.

With two years left in the drive, the result has been $1.9 million in additional funding. The SBDC now operates with a $550,00 annual budget, aided greatly by $165,000 a year from City Utilities, which pays SBDC to market Springfield.

The SBDC has had mixed results three years into its five-year Partnership for Prosperity goals.

• The SBDC has added $94.6 million of a desired $200 million in capital investment to the area. Williams wouldn’t go into specifics, but he said certain indicators make him believe they’ll pick up their pace on capital investment. “Our deal flow and volume of real deals is very strong right now,” Williams said.

• Metro job-growth goals already have been surpassed – 7,642 versus a goal of 7,500 – while regional job-growth goals have nearly been met – 10,417 versus a goal of 12,500.

Other SBDC objectives include raising the median income and keeping unemployment low.

Williams said the rate of Springfield’s median income growth has outpaced both the rest of Missouri and similar cities – Colorado Springs, Colo.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Richmond, Va.; and Green Bay, Wis. – by 1.5 percent.

In Febuary, Springfield’s unemployment rate was 4.2 percent, compared with 5.4 percent statewide. Nationally, unemployment was 4.8 percent that month.

All figures for Springfield are based on the metropolitan statistical area.

No monster projects

“I look back at ‘05 as a sustainable year,” said Williams, echoing the sentiment of 2005 board President Andrew Lear of accounting firm BKD LLP and 2006 board President Mike Phillips of accounting firm Kirkpatrick, Phillips & Miller CPAs PC.

Steps such as the build-out of the original PIC, which is home to 21 companies and $200 million in private investment in just under 13 years, and the infusion of 700 jobs through the announcement of a T-Mobile call center in northwest Springfield are moderate steps that will add to Springfield’s balanced, steady economy, Williams said.

Lear said meaningful growth takes time. He said many of the highlights from 2005 would carry over to 2006 and beyond.

“The thing about trying to look at a snapshot of any 12-month period is (it’s) difficult,” he said. “It’s a continuum of effort.”

For his part, Phillips will focus on growing existing Springfield businesses. He said existing employers generate 80 percent of new jobs.

Williams said the SBDC needs to be mindful to not outgrow Springfield’s infrastructure of roads and sewers.

“It’s not growth for growth’s sake,” he said.

Don’t expect an auto plant addition anytime soon, as the SBDC courts firms that employ 500 and not 5,000.

“We don’t chase the big, monster projects,” Williams said. “Those type of projects are very sexy and make the headlines … but what those deals do to the dynamic of your community’s work force and sustainability are not always positive.”

If a massive employer hits hard times, so can the community, he noted.

For example, around 1,000 Springfield workers suffered through Zenith’s early 1990s plant closure. The city bounced back, in part, because of the creation of the Partnership Industrial Center in 1993.