Washington Technology Center, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization, is helping many Spokane businesses develop their big ideas.


The economic-development agency, which is funded mostly through the state, provides financial and technical assistance to companies that need help with research and development for products to be sold commercially.


Since 2000, it has assisted 13 Spokane companies. It currently is working with three companies in Spokane, Avista Utilities, GenPrime Inc., and Sterling International, and Colville-based Vaagen Bros. Lumber Inc.


We think there are lots of opportunities in Spokane, says Tab Wilkins, WTCs director of regional and technical services. Spokane is one of the places were trying to do more major activities.


Under its research-funding program, WTC pays for part of the cost of projects conducted jointly by public universities and private companies that have the potential to benefit Washington states economy.


Locally, WTC invested about $117,000 in the 2004 fiscal year, which ended June 30, and invested about $172,000 the previous year. The economic-development agency says its impossible to project how much it will fund in 2005 because of several variables, such as how companies apply for money and how much they will request. WTC receives about $2.8 million in funding from the state annually, and derives some money from fees and federal sources.


WTC has about 20 full-time employees and about six paid interns. It has five employees who specialize in the Spokane area.


It cites GenPrime, a small Spokane-based biotech company, as one of its success stories. GenPrime has been developing several products in conjunction with Eastern Washington University that likely will generate large revenues.


The company is working on commercial bacterial testing devices that could be used to detect bacteria levels in food and liquids such as milk and beer. The companys president and chief technology officer, Jim Fleming, says that GenPrime plans to start marketing, those devices by the end of the year. He says a $120,000 grant from the WTC was crucial to product development.


It was a critical step for GenPrime, says Fleming. WTC provided the money to Eastern Washington University so that GenPrime could develop a unique antibody test.


WTC works with other business development groups here such as the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute and the Inland Northwest Technology Education Center (INTEC) to locate and help companies that need funding. The groups share information about investors, grants, and other programs, Wilkins says.


Were trying to find companies that are young and growing, says Wilkins.


Those relationships appear to be working.


We collaborate in some discrete areas, says Patrick Jones, SIRTIs director of external affairs. Its a little complicated, but we have an exchange of board seats and that helps with sharing information. For example, Wilkins is on SIRTIs board of directors.


SIRTI, INTEC, and WTC are planning a series of seminars, including a National Science Foundation event in December and an Eye of the Investor program in February, that will help Spokane-area companies raise research-and-developments funds, Wilkins says.


Weve held them before and they have spurred some good conversations, and taught some people how to be better prepared if they wanted to pursue money, Wilkins says.


WTC uses an innovation index to monitor technology growth across the state and to provide data for an angel investor program it also operates.


The index compiles data into six core indicatorsinnovation, competitiveness, growth, financial capacity, human potential, and quality of lifeto determine which areas of the state WTC should focus its energies on, Wilkins says. Some of those statistics it gathers include: the number of technology jobs, new company starts, patent generation, and research grants awarded.


Its findings show that Spokanes technology employment ranked second in the state last year at 14,600 jobs, behind Seattle, and overall average is comparable to Vancouver and Tacoma.


Spokane ranked fourth in tech jobs per capita.


Technology wages were low paid compared with other regions, but still paid significantly higher than overall average annual wages for Spokane. Of the three major sectors in Spokane, computer and data processing services grew, but engineering and architectural services and telecommunications declined. Patents generated have increased over the past three years, however, with Spokane ranked sixth in the state during that period.


In addition to its other services, WTC operates an angel network, through which it creates community-based private investor groups or funds to invest in early-stage companies around the state.


It tracks the number of potential angel investors by checking for million-dollar homes in specific regions. It classifies potential angel investors as people who have a net worth of at least $1 million or an annual net income of $200,000 for the past three years.


There are 200 people in the Spokane area who have the resources to be classified as potential investment candidates, compared with about 7,000 in the Seattle area, Wilkins says.


How it works


WTC also operates a microfabrication lab in Seattle and helps companies secure federal funding through what are called Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.


Companies have to apply to WTC for assistance, and the process is competitive, says Kerry Alexander, WTCs communications manager.


Its quite a variety of companies we work with, Wilkins says. The technical expertise greatly depends on the company. It can be advice on how to get money, or use of our laboratory. Its hard to pinpoint.


One example is Vaagen Bros. Lumber, which is working with Washington State University researchers to develop new wood-plastic composites that could be used for decks, picnic tables, benches, and other outdoor products. The research, which began in July, is being funded in part by a $40,000 grant from WTC.


Researchers at WSUs Wood Materials & Engineering Laboratory, in Pullman, are blending sawmill residue from Vaagens mill with plastics to create a fiber source that could be used in outdoor products.


WSU scientists will experiment with different mixtures and types of plastic over the next several months to create new materials. One of the goals is to make a wood plastic composite that is resistant to moisture and heat.


Says Russ Vaagen, the companys marketing director. If it works out, we could produce some of the materials used further down the process like decking material.


Vaagen Bros., which operates a lumber mill in Colville, is supplying the wood fiber needed for the research in the form of wood flour, made from sawmill residue such as tree bark, wood chips, and sawdust.


If something substantial emerges from the research, WSU and Vaagen Brothers could start another phase of development. If the company decides not to produce anything created from the research, however, the project still is valuable, Vaagen says.


If not us than somebody else, he says. It would create more jobs and use an existing resource, which are good things.