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High-Tech Lab May Come Here

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By RICHARD MULLINS and ADAM EMERSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 17, 2008

TAMPA - Hillsborough County commissioners agreed Wednesday to put up $6 million to help lure a high-technology company promising the region potentially hundreds of new high-paying jobs.

The not-for-profit company was only identified by Judy Genshaft, president of the University of South Florida, as a spinoff from Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is proposing to create a $20 million research center at USF Research Park. The company specializes in micromedical technology.

USF has already agreed to kick in $4 million to lure the company to Tampa. That, combined with the county's $6 million incentive, makes the company eligible for a matching state grant of $10 million. It must now apply for that assistance.

In the world of microtechnology, that quickly narrows down the list of potential organizations. First, there is Draper Laboratories, which spun out of MIT in 1973 and focuses on missile technology for the military and biomedical projects with major institutions such as Harvard University. Another potential candidate could be MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center chartered to research national security problems in areas such as aerospace and advanced microelectronics.

Both are well-regarded and funded institutions that conduct microdevice research.

Officials with Lincoln could not be reached for comment.

Cambridge Mass.-based Draper is currently conducting a national drive to scout new sites for lab work in many locations nationwide, said Kathleen Granchelli, a spokeswoman for the organization. Its director of strategic business development, Len Polizzotto, recently worked for SRI International, she said.

Silicon Valley, Calif.-based SRI recently opened an office in St. Petersburg to conduct research in a variety of subjects, including marine research.

SRI executives said they played a role in recruiting the yet-to-be-named research group looking at USF.

"We helped play a matchmaking role," said Peter Marcotullio, a business development director at SRI.

He declined to say which company is involved, but added, "Because we are here, it helped attract them and know that they would have company of another research group like us in the neighborhood."

SRI could also take a small role in the research work that could be done at USF, said Marcotullio, who emphasized that many other local government groups are helping court researchers into the area.

Matching state incentives would come from the Florida Innovation Incentive Program. It has previously backed such ventures as the Scripps Research Institute branch at Florida Atlantic University.

The unidentified company said in its county application for assistance that the research center could create 100 jobs in Hillsborough County with average salaries of about $75,000. Company officials added that it might yield up to 271 additional jobs in five years with a cumulative economic impact of up to $337 million.

The center, if built, would specialize in developing such technology as tiny machines implanted in the body that could, for instance, deliver drugs continuously to ailing organs, said Rod Casto, director of USF's Research Foundation.

The company's plans also call for creating an electronics plant in Pinellas County, but USF is not working on that, Casto said. Pinellas County economic development officials declined to comment on the nonprofit proposal.

Hillsborough County commissioners hailed the project, but some members were disappointed that Tampa city officials declined to put up any money. Though in favor of the research center, Commissioner Jim Norman said the county "can't be the give-all of everything."

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at rmullins@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7919. Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at aemerson

@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-8285.

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