Agenda - 03-13-2012 - 4b - Laserfiche WebLink

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25 the company moves to larger facilities (20,000 SF then 40,000 SF). These companies are "liquidated" through a sale to a larger life-science company which often consolidates them outside the Triangle area. Another serial entrepreneur thought that the RTP represented an "old economy" model and encouraged learning from the experience of other areas including Princeton, San Diego, Indianapolis, Menlo Park, Austin and Cambridge. Most of these areas offer urban environments to foster entrepreneurship. He was especially impressed by the innovative work at the Broad Institute in Cambridge. The most insightful interview was conducted with an attorney who provided information on one of the pharmaceutical companies but also had over 30 years experience in facilitating startups in the Triangle area. His resume included 28 startups including four in the OTD database. His main point was that the current needs of life-science companies are quite different than IT firms and other spin-offs. In the current economic environment, life-science companies need considerable funding for many years and specialized space before products are brought to market and revenues are forthcoming. He suggested focusing on other high tech companies that generally need Class B or C office or flex space with very few specialized services. His suggestions were a perfect segue to the second phase of the project where buildings occupied by the surveyed companies were investigated virtually and in person. Facilities Occupied bv Surveyed Companies As noted, some companies occupy "plain vanilla" office space in Durham, Wake or Orange Counties. Others occupy space providing very sophisticated equipment, special refrigeration, clean rooms, wet lab space, areas for human or animal clinical trials, air quality controls, andlor high power/energy capacity. Special attention was devoted to incubator and accelerator space and the types of companies these facilities serve. - The PI analyzed more than 30 past or current addresses and established several categories for the 26 surveyed companies as well as additional locations occupied by the other qualified independent companies. One group of companies is in office buildings or flex space in Wake or Durham Counties (3C Institute, 3`d Tech, Channel Advisor, Change & Course, Device Solutions, Novalon and Viamet). Another group of companies is in building clusters in RTP which range from relatively new office space managed by Keystone Corporation and others to smaller older buildings managed by the Research Triangle Foundation (Drug Safety Alliance, Entegrion, Invitrox, Liquidia, Novan and Pharpoint). These spaces are meeting the company's needs but provide no further insights of use for this study. 22