By Gwen Green (gagreen@ualr.edu)
Oct. 8, 2008
LITTLE ROCK - Innovation and technology businesses sprout up in the fertile fields and research labs of Arkansas, not just in Seattle and Silicon Valley.
Arkansas Small Business Development Center, the state's largest and most comprehensive business assistance program, is changing its name to underscore its commitment to helping Arkansas science and technology entrepreneurs, people like Jeff Burton and Dr. Laura James (http://achri.archildrens.org/researchers/JamesL.htm).
Burton and James work in vastly different surroundings, but both credit ASBDC with helping them bring new technologies to the marketplace. Burton's family business is a leader in precision agriculture technology. James is a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher who developed a simple "dipstick" test for acetaminophen overdoses with two UAMS colleagues.
"Our new name illustrates an extension of our mission to serve Arkansas' entrepreneurial community," said Janet Roderick, ASBDC executive director. "We began a decade ago to develop services for innovation and technology-based businesses when it became apparent that a key to economic growth in Arkansas would be our own innovation. Arkansas must be on the leading edge of technology to compete with other states and internationally in this economy."
Governor Mike Beebe will officially announce the new name at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Reynolds Center Atrium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Economic development, particularly through high-tech and innovation-based businesses, is one of the governor's key initiatives.
Both the state and ASBDC target technology-based industries in seven fields: advanced materials and manufacturing systems; agriculture, food and environmental sciences; biotechnology, bioengineering and life sciences; information technology; transportation logistics; and bio-based products.
Established in 1980, ASBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the UALR College of Business. Becoming only the fifth of the 63 SBDCs nationwide to do so, ASBDC earned special technology accreditation from the national Association of Small Business Development Centers late last year by demonstrating the ability to assist clients in areas such as technology transfer, commercialization, research and development funding, intellectual property and equity financing.
Burton of Little Rock says that's exactly what ASBDC's Mildred Holley gave his family's company, AgRobotics (www.agrobotics.com). Holley, ASBDC technology programs manager, began working with Burton and his father Jim in 2003, and Jeff Burton called her assistance "very, very valuable."
AgRobotics aims to develop new products and technologies that can replace and simplify old farming practices. Their first product, the Autoprob™, is a precision soil-sampling machine that collects core samples at a precise depth and interval over a section of land. Holley first assisted the Burtons with writing their business plan; more recently, she urged the younger Burton to attend Advanced Invention to Venture, an ASBDC event for entrepreneurs earlier this month that Burton described as the "most valuable four days we've spent since we started."
"She's a connector," he said. "She connects you to the people and resources you need."
ASBDC assists innovation-based businesses through its network of offices across the state. In addition to the ASBDC lead center at UALR, regional offices are located at Arkansas State University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and University of Arkansas at Monticello College of Technology in McGehee. All services, which include consulting, research and training, are available at low or no cost through ASBDC's partnership with SBA and higher education institutions across Arkansas.
About the SBDC Network
Uniting private enterprise, government, higher education and local non-profit economic development organizations, the Small Business Development Center national network is the SBA's largest partnership program, providing management and technical assistance to help Americans start, run and grow their own businesses. With approximately 1,000 offices across the nation, the SBDC network assists approximately 725,000 small businesses every year.
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