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Incubators, biopark swap services in Baltimore

University center will offer lab space to startups

by Kevin J. Shay | Staff Writer

The Emerging Technology Center doesn’t have wet-lab space for its early-stage companies in the two incubators. Meanwhile, the University of Maryland BioPark’s BioInnovation Center offers short-term lab space for those businesses but doesn’t have all the support services of a conventional incubator.

So, it made sense to join forces, said Catherine E. Vorwald, director of business development for Wexford Science + Technology, a Hanover company developing two buildings at the biopark.

‘‘They were turning companies away,” Vorwald said. ‘‘This is a winning proposition not just for the [Emerging Technology Center] and the biopark, but for Baltimore’s growing bioscience sector.”

Under the agreement, the Emerging Technology Center will provide mentoring and other support services to future tenants at the university center. In return, Wexford will offer incubator companies wet-lab space and promote the incubators’ services to its tenants.

The agreement will also allow employees of the incubators and university biopark to work together in areas such as referrals and actual tenant prospecting, Vorwald said.

‘‘This agreement will allow startup biotech and life science firms to locate at the UM BioPark in physical space which can accommodate their unique needs, while still receiving the business mentoring, technical and networking services that traditionally have been provided by the [Emerging Technology Center] and that are essential to helping these companies grow,” Ann Lansinger, executive director of the tech center, said in a statement.

The tech center is a venture of the Baltimore Development Corp., a nonprofit chartered by the city of Baltimore to handle economic development.

Gliknik, a Baltimore biotech company, will be among those moving into the BioInnovation Center next month. The center is located in the biopark’s 215,000-square-foot Building Two. That Wexford-developed building is slated to open next month and is about half-leased, Vorwald said. Other tenants include the Institute for Genome Sciences.

The 120,000-square-foot Building One, developed by Townsend Capital LLC of Hunt Valley, opened in 2005 and is fully leased. Tenants include Alba Therapeutics Corp., the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases and Harbor Bank of Maryland.

A third 180,000-square-foot building at the biopark — developed by Wexford — is slated to break ground in April, Vorwald said.

The Emerging Technology Center has a good track record in generating successful companies. In 2007, its current and graduate companies raised about $517 million in outside funding, executives said.

Graduates include Visicu, a fast-growing Baltimore health care information technology company that had revenues of $27.8 million in the first nine months of 2007, a 24.5 percent rise from 2006. Net income increased by 71 percent to $7 million.

The 66 companies in the Emerging Technology Center employ about 500 in jobs having an average salary of $62,000.