Business incubator gets a reprieve - Westfair Communications

As of last week, the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation (HVCFI) was about to close its doors. But an 11^th-hour amendment passed Dec. 5 by the Ulster County Legislature in its adaptation of the 2008 budget is giving HVCFI a shot at survival. The amendment earmarks $100,000 in county funds for the business incubator.

The dollars would be taken out of the county”™s contingency funds, money set aside for pending items. The HVCFI”™s future is still “very questionable,” said Sheldon Quimbly, deputy administrator for the county. He noted that delivery of the funds was dependent on a future contract with the county, which would specify certain oversights and a set of performance measures.

According to Quimbly, the HVCFI”™s projected budget for 2008 was $356,000, including $159,000 in revenues, part of which presumably would derive from rent paid by tenants who lease space at its quarters near TechCity. Even with the county funds, that still leaves a hole of about $100,000. “From an empty glass, we have a glass that”™s half full,” said Thomas Phillips, executive director of the Hudson Valley Technology Center in Fishkill, who also is the chairman of the HVCFI board.

Phillips said HVCFI was launched after receiving $450,000 in seed money from the county ”“ former UCDC head Chester Straub was instrumental in obtaining the funds ”“and another $250,000 from Empire State Development, the state agency for economic development. The Hudson Valley Technology Center also kicked in $40,000. After Phillips and HVCFI Managing Director Les Neumann spent months laying the groundwork, the incubator was officially launched in the spring of 2006.

Phillips said “accelerator” would be a better description of the organization. It targets “companies close to going to market but that need help getting into the market, or those already in the market that need help to grow.”

Phillips said in the initial proposal, HVCFI outlined its plan to be self sufficient within three to three-and-half years.Â He said that $300,000 is the amount of capital that”™s so far been infused into new or growing companies through the incubator”™s auspices and that 15 jobs have been created.

Other benefits may be harder to quantify, though no less real, said Phillips. HVCFI hosts monthly networking breakfasts featuring presentations on various business topics, such as how to approach angel investors; how to put together a business plan; and innovations in health-care technology. “It”™s impossible to figure out how many side business deals and partnerships come out of the introductions from that session,” said Phillips of the breakfasts. Also, “we have brought in outsiders to the area, including people from Florida and New Jersey. There”™s life here in the valley.”

County administrator Michael Hein has said the number of jobs created is underwhelming and did not justify the county expenditure. The legislators seemed to agree, but hard lobbying of the lawmakers by the HVCI”™s beneficiaries and fans at the last minute apparently succeeded in changing some minds.

Neumann (who was away and did not return phone calls by press time) had originally requested $250,000 in funding from the county for 2008. He has noted that $500,000 was needed to maintain operations. Phillips said the first item on HVCFI”™s agenda is locating sources for more funds. “We still have a hole to fill. Now we have some time and we hope to figure out a way to do that.”