By Gwen Green (gagreen@ualr.edu)
Oct. 27, 2008
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Beebe has made economic development, particularly through high-tech and innovation-based businesses, a cornerstone of his administration. Today he applauded a change in Arkansas' network of small business development centers that recognizes the role technology plays in the state's economic development.
Beebe joined UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson; Dr. Jane P. Wayland, interim dean of the College of Business; Janet M. Roderick, state director of the Arkansas Small Business Development Center; and Jerry Adams, president and CEO of the Arkansas Research Alliance, in unveiling a new name for the operation - the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center - and recognized its new technology accreditation.
"We need to prepare our small businesses for a strong standing in a competitive 21st-century economy," Beebe said. "Many technological innovations begin in our small businesses, and this center will support those companies and foster advances that will lead to long-term success."
"Our new name illustrates an important extension of our mission to serve Arkansas' entrepreneurial community," Roderick said. "Arkansas must be on the leading edge of technology to compete with other states, and internationally, in this economy. Our small businesses must be able to access and utilize available technology to expand and grow."
The center has developed its technology services over the last decade, adding cutting-edge market research capabilities, expanding technology training programs and creating staff positions to focus on innovation and technology. It also specializes in helping all types of existing small businesses apply technology.
The expansion of services helped the center qualify for special technology accreditation from the national Association of Small Business Development Centers. The accreditation recognizes the center's ability to assist clients in areas such as commercialization, research and development funding, technology transfer, intellectual property and equity financing.
Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center was only the 5th of the 63 small business development centers in the country to earn the technology designation.
"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 - not just waiting for jobs and companies to choose us, but growing our own," said Roderick.
In the last five years, the center helped create 5,024 new jobs in Arkansas and retain another 3,373 jobs. Over the same time span, it helped clients secure $216 million in funding for their small businesses.
Roderick pointed to several Arkansas science and technology entrepreneurs to illustrate how the small business center helps clients turn new technologies into businesses.
For example, Jeff Burton's family company, AgRobotics, is a leader in precision agriculture technology. AgRobotics' first product, the AutoProbe, is a precision soil-sampling machine. Dr. Laura James is a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher who along with two colleagues developed a "dipstick" test for acetaminophen overdoses and created Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics LLC.
Both have worked closely with Mildred Holley, Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center technology programs manager. Holley last week was designated a certified technology counselor by the national Association of Small Business Development Center, Roderick announced.
The new name and logo for the center were unveiled in the atrium of the UALR Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development.
Established in 1980, the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the UALR College of Business. Through the headquarters located at UALR and a statewide network of seven offices, ASBTDC assists start-ups, existing businesses, expanding businesses and technology businesses through consulting, training and research services.
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