Small packages, big profits

Officials with the city of Springfield and Missouri State University think they have a project that will act as a springboard for new technology in the region.

MSU broke ground Nov. 29 at the site of the Jordan Valley Innovation Center, the former MFA mill at Boonville and Phelps, kicking off a plan for fostering cutting-edge research in nanotechnology.

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 technology can be used in fields ranging from defense – for biohazard detection systems – to computer technology – creating faster and more compact memory systems – to clothing manufacturing – repelling stains and wrinkles.

MSU has been studying this nanotechnology for several years through the Center for Applied Science and Engineering, but JVIC creates a new opportunity to draw science firms to the area.

“The Jordan Valley Innovation Center has been described as one of the most important projects in the history of Missouri State University and the city of Springfield,” MSU President Michael Nietzel said at the groundbreaking. “I don’t think that statement is hyperbole.”

Considering the National Science Foundation’s prediction that nanotechnology will be a $1 trillion industry in 15 years, that statement could be dead on. Thus far, three nanotechnology research companies – Brewer Science, Crosslink and Nantero – have signed lease agreements for JVIC.

The space

The center’s plans call for $12 million in renovations in Phase I, which includes two buildings of the five-building campus, according to Jim Baker, MSU’s vice president of research and economic development.

The two adjoined buildings comprise eight floors, four of which will be used by the university’s Center for Applied Science and Engineering. Lease agreements have been signed for three of the other four floors; Brewer Science of Rolla, Crosslink Polymer Research of Fenton and Nantero of Massachusetts each have leased one floor of the facility. University officials say lease agreements with two undisclosed companies are being finalized for the final floor.

Lease space is $16 a square foot; Brewer has a 10-year deal, while Crosslink and Nantero have two-year leases with options.

Federal funds will finance the renovations; the center already has received a $7.64 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, with another $4.4 million awaiting final federal approval.

DeWitt & Associates Inc. was awarded a $9 million construction contract for the first phase of development, according to Baker. Sapp Design Associates Architects PC and Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. are contributing architectural work to the project.

‘Next generation’

One of the key projects in nanotech research is the carbon nanotube, a device that literally measures a few atoms across. But according to Nantero co-founder and CEO Greg Schmergel, it’s an incredible tool for a variety of electronics uses.

“They’re flexible, they conduct electricity better than copper, they conduct heat better than diamonds and they’re stronger than steel,” he said. “Plus, you can obviously fit a lot of nanotubes in a small space, and they’re very fast because you’re moving a very small number of carbon atoms a very small distance. It’s the next generation of memory.”

Some companies, though, are looking at uses for these organic structures that go beyond the world of electronics altogether.

“We’re just in the beginning phase of what you can do with them,” said Robin van der Wel, Brewer Science’s director of external research and development programs. “They can eventually be used in all types of products – in electronics, as clothing sensors, or even to interface between the skin and medical (devices). It’s really, in my opinion, an endless stream of possibilities.”

Seizing the opportunity

Springfield innovation center’s unique structure may give it an advantage, according to Brewer’s van der Wel.

“In the past, (intellectual property) has been held by the universities,” he said. “What MSU has done is develop a program where (intellectual property) is housed by the businesses. It’s a unique way of combining university know-how with the technological understanding of businesses such as ours.”

While Phase I of the development may not feature a large number of new jobs – Baker estimated between 30 and 40 new positions would be created – he said those jobs will act as a catalyst.

“The second (phase) is advanced manufacturing, and the third phase would hopefully be working with local manufacturers to build some of the products that are being developed by these companies, and that’s where there’s a lot of impact on jobs,” Baker said. “The challenge is to not only do the research and development but also capture some of that manufacturing.”

Planning is ongoing on the remaining two phases; Baker said that while no official timetable has been set, the second phase could be complete by 2009.

The center will almost certainly have an impact on the local economy beyond the jobs it directly creates, according to U.S. House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, who has been instrumental in securing the federal funding for the project.

“One of the great strengths of southwest Missouri is how many things have to go wrong before we feel it here because our economy is so broad-based, and one place we haven’t had a real foothold in that economy is in the defense industry,” Blunt said at the groundbreaking. “These are not jobs that are coming here from somewhere else; these are jobs that are going to be created right here by the new reality of how we live and defend ourselves today, and how those technologies work beyond the defense and the military.”

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