Sirti, the Spokane-based Washington state economic development agency that's focused on accelerating the development and growth of innovative technology companies, now is taking steps aimed at ensuring its own long-term presence here—though in a different form.

It has helped craft legislation that would abolish it and a Seattle counterpart, the Washington Technology Center, and transfer their duties and functions to a new state agency, Innovate Washington, that would take a statewide, sector-based approach to bolstering technology enterprises.

The legislation, Senate Bill 5764, was approved 46-2 by the state Senate on March 2, then received in the House of Representatives and referred to a House committee that as of earlier this week had taken no action on it.

Though the bill hasn't advanced, Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, ranking minority member of the Senate Economic Development, Trade, and Innovation Committee, says, "I think there's a very strong likelihood it will be approved," based on what appears to be key legislative support.

If approved, it would become effective Aug. 1.

Kim Zentz, Sirti's executive director, says she's excited about the potential for the proposed new organization to offer statewide technology-based economic development support services in a more cohesive, efficient manner than the two organizations do separately.

Discussion of a merger began two years ago, partly out of concerns about declining state funding, she says, adding that as the state budget situation has worsened, "You start looking at your organizations and wondering if they can be viable with the depth of cuts."

The amount of state general fund money that Sirti receives has fallen by close to $400,000, or nearly one-fourth, over the last three years—to about $1.3 million this fiscal year, ending June 30, from about $1.7 million in the 2008 fiscal year, data provided by Sirti show.

Based partly on that decline, Sirti anticipates its expenses will exceed its revenues by about $237,000 this fiscal year, down from net income of about $226,000 in in fiscal year 2008 and $203,000 in 2009, and the equivalent of a $27,200 loss in the 2010 fiscal year, the data show. Such years in which expenses exceed revenues require Sirti to tap into a reserve account to cover the difference.

Even minus those financial concerns, though, it's become increasingly apparent that technology-focused economic development support services in the state are too fragmented, Zentz says, adding, "The fragmentation leads to less productivity and lack of focus."

Of the creation of a statewide entity to offer those services, she says, "It's something that the state should be doing. A lot of the most progressive states already have gone in this direction."

As for the creation of Innovate Washington, "There is no new funding requested and no new funding anticipated," beyond what the two agencies now receive separately, Zentz says. Although Sirti would be abolished, there would be little noticeable impact here, at least initially, under the new entity in terms of staffing or the breadth of services, Zentz says.

However, Innovate Washington would take more of a sector-focused approach to promoting technology-based economic development, and the first sector it would target is clean energy, per recommendations of the Washington Clean Energy Leadership Council, she says.

That council, now disbanded, was a public-private partnership created to develop a strategy and recommendations for aligning the state's clean energy policies, technology, and capital to help it promote job growth in that burgeoning industry sector. Its goal is to create 50,000 jobs over the next decade.

Zentz and Roger Woodworth, an executive at Spokane-based Avista Corp., were among the 23 members named to the council, which submitted its recommendations and final report to Gov. Chris Gregoire on Jan. 19 of this year.

One of its recommendations was to establish a Clean Energy Partnership and to consolidate Sirti and the Washington Technology Center into a single statewide organization that could house that public-private entity. The Clean Energy Partnership, as envisioned, would be given primary responsibility for managing energy-related grant and funding programs. Also, it would be charged with "leveraging limited state resources to attract significantly larger investments from non-state partners."

Assuming Innovate Washington's creation is approved, Zentz says, "We have a lot of discussions ahead of us about exactly how this would work." She adds, though, that she's convinced it has the potential to garner a lot more bang for the taxpayer buck and to help the operation that Sirti would become to do its job better.

Sirti, which went by the name Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute before reverting more formally to its oft-used acronym, offers business coaching and management assistance, as well as access to capital and certain legal services.

It describes its target clients as "innovative technology companies with defensible intellectual property, large market potential, and principals who show a strong desire to grow their business."

At its two buildings here, both located east of downtown, it offers a total of 40,000 square feet of usable business-incubator space, with wet labs and light manufacturing potential, along with full-service offices and a sophisticated information-technology infrastructure.

Currently, it has a total of 19 tenants—counting clients and partners—occupying incubator and other space at its four-story main building, at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd., on the Riverpoint Campus, and at the five-year-old Sirti Technology Center, located on the other side of Spokane Falls Boulevard, at 129 N. Pine Street.

Among its tenants are companies such as Pacinian Corp., which develops touch screen-related technology, and Iasis Molecular Sciences, a biomedical concern focused on products for treating infection and inflammation. It also works with a large number of what it calls "off-campus" clients.

In a recently released 2010 annual report, Sirti said it had 64 active clients overall and that 68.5 percent of its "graduates"—it's had about 230 of them since its inception—still are in business. It said its clients and alumni last year accounted for more than 1,725 jobs, counting full-time, part-time and contract positions, and for more than $179.4 million in revenue.