Minutes 11-17-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Board considered approving a new Interlocal Agreement between the County and Town of Chapel Hill that extends the County's Article 46 funding support for entrepreneurial development to continue supporting the existing "Launch Chapel Hill" innovation center located at 321 West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, and authorizing the Manager to sign. Steve Brantley, Orange County Economic Development Department Director, said this item proposes a new local agreement between Orange County and Chapel Hill for the LAUNCH incubator. He reviewed the attachments in the Commissioners' agenda packet. Steve Brantley reviewed the history of the interlocal agreement. BACKGROUND: Steve Brantley said as part of the Board of County Commissioners' strategic planning in 2011 to utilize Article 46 funding to support key economic development priorities, the importance of growing and retaining entrepreneurial start-up talent in Orange County was included. The Board sought to reverse the historic trend where promising, growth-oriented start-up companies originating out of the University of North Carolina would eventually relocate to adjacent counties over time. The County contracted with the department head of UNC Chapel Hill's Department of City & Regional Planning (Dr. Emil Malizia) in 2011 & 2012, who conducted a regional real estate assessment of average lease costs, ideal space needs and working environments that start-up companies seek throughout their developmental life span. A key recommendation from the consultant report highlighted a severe shortage of competitively priced incubator facilities here in the County, and suggested the development of an innovation center to better retain entrepreneurial talent coming from the University and local community. In March 2012, available property located at 321 West Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill was identified as a potential incubator location, and the Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County began working collaboratively to support further development of an innovation center at this site. On April 3, 2012, the Board of County Commissioners received a summary of the potential economic development project during closed session. Following this report, the Board agreed to continue moving forward on this opportunity. In July 2012, Orange County prepared a draft Interlocal Agreement outlining the commitments of both parties. The final version of the Interlocal Agreement was signed by the County and Town in late 2012, establishing an initial 3 1/2 year term where both local governments would provide a 50/50 co-share of the lease cost for the facility. The County's cost, paid by Article 46 funds, was $10,000 per quarter, or $140,000 total. "Launch Chapel Hill" eventually took form at 321 West Rosemary Street by accepting the initial group of student tenants, and officially opening on May 1, 2013. In addition, UNC Chapel Hill's close mentoring support expanded into becoming a financial backer, and a conduit to attract private venture capital support for Launch. On November 4, 2015 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was recognized among the top five best performing university business accelerators in North America, based on a 2015 benchmark study by UBI Global, a thought leader in performance analysis of business incubators around the world. A memorandum (see attachment 1) from Launch Program Manager Dina Rousset outlines the incubator's recent success stories, a list of current entrepreneur companies, and a brief survey of private funding raised by many of these start-up firms. This summary describes how Launch "brings in a cohort or class of 6- 10 companies every six months (January& July). Bringing companies in as cohorts allows us to most effectively and efficiently serve their needs.