Technology Event puts Arlington at Center of Innovation
By O.K. Carter, Fort Worth Business Press
Monday, July 27, 2009 | Arlington, TX – The World’s Best Technologies Showcase isn’t scheduled until March 2010 at the Arlington Convention Center, but competition to be among the 100 startup technologies or companies allowed in the event is already brisk.
Background: Startup technologies often have a difficult time obtaining either investors or – in some cases – outright purchasers, a difficulty that resulted in an idea back in 2002: Why not bring startups and investors together at a single event and see what cooks?
The first formalized WBT showcase was held in Pittsburgh in 2002, but subsequently found what appears to be a permanent home in Arlington, essentially with the local chamber of commerce functioning as the host organization since 2004.
The University of Texas at Arlington also is involved and there are some heavyweight partners, such as the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds and the Southeastern Universities Research Association.
“The WBT serves as an effective means for emerging companies to build their network of resources and launch world-class technologies from leading laboratories and universities into the marketplace,” said Arlington Chamber President Wes Jurey, who has made the WBT into one of his pet projects, albeit a highly successful one.
Jurey said presenting technologies are selected on the merits of their innovation and the specific investment or licensing opportunity. Historically the showcase hasn’t received a lot of media ink because it’s not an open-to-the-public event. Exhibit space is limited to the selected presenting technologies, venture funds, corporate licensors and sponsors only. In 2009 that translated to 75** startup companies/technologies, the net result being about 500 overall attendees, including 140 investors and Fortune 1000 representatives.
In 2010 it’ll be 100 potential startups because nanotechnology was added to the list of eligible technologies for the first time. Other new emerging technologies at the showcase tend to be dominated by life science, advanced materials, energy and information technology. Many of the emerging technologies or companies have histories that include support from various federal research and development programs such as the National Science Foundation or the Department of Energy’s Office of Industrial Technologies.
“Prospective presenters can be broadly divided into two groups,” Jurey said, “actual startup companies and pure technologies, sometimes from institutions (including universities) with researchers still in the lab.”
Presenters literally compete for the right to be in the WBT, the final 100 being selected by a national panel of venture capitalists and corporate licensing executives.
“There’s also a lot of competition to be named as one of the top three most promising technologies and especially to win the Best of Show Award,” Jurey said.
This year’s three top prospects included Alexium Ltd., InvivoSciences and Nayang Technological University. Alexium presented an advanced system of rapidly attaching nanoparticles to surfaces, InvivoSciences offered an advanced technique for drug and toxicology screening and Nayang University wanted to bring a more efficient compressor technology for heating and refrigeration to the market.
“I’d predict that all three will end up in the marketplace as a result of their presence at the showcase,” Jurey said.
Though not all the presenting technologies find the right funding match, the track record thus far in past years has been impressive. There was, for instance, the $169 million acquisition of MeshNetworks (seamless wireless technology) by Motorola. And the acquisition of Sensant (ultrasound imaging) by Siemens AG for an undisclosed figure.
There are other examples, such as the $42 million acquisition of Planning Systems Inc. by QinetiQ North America, or the purchase of OrganicID (printed radio frequency identification tags) by Weyerhaeuser.
“When compared to industry norms for venture investments – typically only 1 to 3 percent of business plans get funding – the track record of the WBT and the success of WBT presenters is significant,” Jurey said, pointing out that as high as 46 percent of presenters in past WBT shows had acquired funding, though that percentage has admittedly dropped in this recessionary economy.
Information: www.wbtshowcase.com
okcarter@bizpress.net
**correction: 90 presenters presented at WBT09
|