President’s Report
With Thanksgiving just concluded and the Christmas and New Year’s Holidays ahead, I want to thank each of you for your support of the Chamber during the past year. On behalf of the staff, we very much appreciate both your involvement with, and investment in the Chamber; particularly at a time when everyone is looking at their expenses carefully.
Your faith in us means a lot to us. We want you to know that we will work hard this year to fulfill your trust, to help you and our community.
We trust you will stay in touch, and take advantage of the resources the Chamber and our staff provide. These challenging economic times are also times when we can be unusually valuable to one another, and I trust that by working together, we will become stronger than ever. As members of our board of directors, and valued investors, we wish you our best during this holiday season.
Center for Innovation at Arlington
I’ll start with an up-to-date on recent developments with the Center for Innovation (the arm of the Chamber that focuses on commercialization of technology discoveries). For starters, you may not realize that the Arlington Technology Incubator (a component of the Center) has already spawned 11 new startup companies, a significant number of which reside in Arlington. Also, over the past few years, the Arlington Technology Incubator morphed into the Center for Innovation at Arlington, a broad based, comprehensive institution, comprised of multiple entities, jointly managed by the Chamber and UT Arlington.
Simply put, it has become an organization capable of serving as a catalyst for technology led economic development, focused on three primary strategies.
First, by developing “deal flow” from (1) UT Arlington’s invention disclosures (now 60 annually) as well as discoveries from other area and regional universities; (2) working with local industry to help move their patent discoveries to market (examples include Texas Health Resources, Texas Instruments, and Frito Lay); and (3) working with federal labs that represent thousands of commercializable technologies that we can help our members secure licenses for, enabling you to manufacture the product and, in most cases, sell it back to the government agency that discovered it.
Second, developing a strong venture capital industry in north Texas. Currently, we are working toward the establishment of the North Texas Fund of Funds. The goal is to secure $100 million in commitments over the next ten years. The Fund of Funds will invest in the establishment of individual venture funds in our region, by providing 10% of a new fund. We are currently meeting with individuals who have expressed interest in knowing more about this fund, and have secured what I would characterize as soft commitments of approximately $14 million toward the Fund’s formation.
Individuals who invest make a 10 year pledge commitment, with an expected annual cash call of approximately 10% of their pledge. In other words, an individual pledging $5 million would expect to actually put into the fund $500,000 a year for the next ten years. If this is of interest to you, please contact my office, as representatives of Cimarron Capital will next be in Arlington on December 8-9 to talk to interested parties.
Third, we are developing and attracting the talent and know how needed to merge these processes and build startup companies out of these technology discoveries. That is the role for the Center for Entrepreneurship, opened this spring, which occupies the bottom floor of the Center for Innovation.
We are also finalizing an agreement with the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) to become one of our partners in the Center for Innovation. If you are not familiar with TMAC, you should be. The U.S. Department of Commerce operates the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which funds the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). In Texas, it is known as TMAC, and is managed by UT Arlington under a contract with NIST (is that complicated enough?). The office at UT Arlington is actually the statewide office that coordinates the work of seven regional offices throughout the state, located in various universities from El Paso, to the Valley, to College Station.
TMAC essentially provides support to assist both startup manufacturers and manufacturers that are experiencing challenges in these tough economic times. We envision TMAC’s role as the support organization to assist startup manufacturing firms developed in the incubator. In reality, it means TMAC will assist our work with local companies that license technologies from federal labs to add a product to their assembly line, or to license technologies that can be the basis for the formation of a new manufacturing enterprise located in our community. At the same time, we will be working in partnership with our local workforce board to identify individuals seeking employment in the manufacturing industry, to secure the job training assistance needed to prepare them for the potential of a new job in a startup manufacturing enterprise.
How does all this affect our members? Well, if you are in the real estate business, you have the potential to sell or lease the building. If you are in the financial services industry, you have the opportunity to become their financial institution. If you sell insurance, you have the opportunity to become their insurance agent. And so on.
Developing businesses in this way really is one aspect of our “building a sustainable community” strategy, meaning that we would not be as dependent on our ability to attract companies to leave another city to come to our city, who often request a significant tax abatement to come.
World’s Best Technologies Showcase
Having just talked with you about the Center for Innovation at Arlington, I trust it begins to make sense as to why we sought the right to host the WBTshowcase in 2004. Since then, the WBT has brought to Arlington a significant number of angel investors and venture funders as well as serial entrepreneurs, corporate licensors, federal lab technology transfer managers and other research institutions. This has enabled us to develop relationships with these attendees, many of whom are now interested in working with and through the Center for Innovation at Arlington. It has been an effective way to develop access to venture funds and build relationships with federal labs, which are a source of commercializable, licensable technology discoveries. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that this year’s WBTshowcase will be the largest ever and that we have four new partners.
First, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, led by Mihail Roco, (National Science Foundation) has formally voted to support the WBT as our fourth national associate producer. Please bear with me as I explain the signifigance. The policies that guide and direct federal research come from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. That office operates through a number of subcommittees, one of which is the Nanoscale Science & Engineering Technology Subcommittee (NSET). Since 2001, NSET has governed the National Nanotechnology Initiative, a ten year research initiative authorized by congress, coordinating the work of 25 federal agencies, of which 13 do actual research in federal labs. NSET formally approved the federal government’s engagement with the WBTshowcase July 21st of this year, opening the door for a significant number of federal agencies to participate. That means this March the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation, as well as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation will all play a significant role in the showcase.
I would remind you that these are all federal agencies and labs that have significant funds to allocate. Some of which could come to Arlington, specifically UT Arlington, to further their research, establish industry academic research partnerships, and support the Center for Innovation at Arlington’s ability to foster these kinds of activities. These federal labs and agencies also represent thousands of licensable technologies. As one example, NASA’s Office of Innovation intends to bring 500 patents that they are seeking licensing partners for. In most cases, the license includes a contract to manufacture the product and sell it back to NASA. The U.S. Department of Defense Office of Technology Transition will come with a similar portfolio. This is in addition to the 120 technologies that will have been selected from entrants received throughout the U.S. and the world. Last year’s technology presentations, for example represented participants from 37 different states in the United States and 20 foreign countries. We expect a similar showing this year.
Second, in working with Texas Instruments, we have secured an additional partner; IEEE, one of the largest engineering organizations in the United States. IEEE intends to conduct their annual symposium as a WBT pre-event on Monday, March 15. This will bring an additional number of thought leaders and practitioners to our community, creating another opportunity to develop relationships.
Third, I am pleased to announce that the UT System has now merged their annual event the UT System Entrepreneurship & Innovation Awards into the WBTshowcase, meaning that the top technologies selected by the UT System from all 15 system campuses will be participating in this year’s showcase.
Fourth, the state’s Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) has also agreed to co-host the showcase, and will be presenting 20 ETF funded companies that are seeking second round venture funding. In the case of the ETF funded companies, these are already actual companies that have a product, that are looking for a second round of venture capital.
I trust these are four additional reasons to convince you to come to at least a portion of this year’s WBTshowcase, scheduled March 15-17 at the Arlington Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel.
Policy Project
A brief update on the Policy Project. I previously reported that Chairman Jeff Williams and I had met with leaders from our faith based community, our health and human service providers, our neighborhood associations and our youth serving organizations. Our purpose was simple, basic and straight forward. We shared with them the 46 recommendations proposed by more than 100 community leaders, identifying challenges they believe we are going to face in the next 10 years. We asked them to review the recommendations and help us engage their peers in discussing these 46 recommendations, to determine which ones the community feels are most critical. That is the process we are calling Phase II. Our expectation is that at some point next spring, we will have a general idea about which recommendations have achieved the most consensus, in terms of their importance.
Phase III, which will then begin in late spring of 2010, will simply take those recommendations that were deemed most critical by the most people, and look at what role the chamber should play (if any) in resolving those challenges, or if we should assist or encourage others to take the lead. In short, it is a way to have an effective dialogue with the community, so that we, the Chamber, gain an understanding of what a diverse group of community leaders think are important issues, relative to building a sustainable community. By no means do we expect to play a lead role in all or even most of these issues. It is simply a way of helping the community engage in discussion of the 46 issues.
If you have not received a copy of the Phase I Report, outlining the 46 recommendations, I would encourage you to contact my office and we will be happy to send you either a hard copy or an electronic one.
Texas Workforce Investment Council
This week I will be spending a portion of my time in Grapevine as the newly appointed Chairman of the Texas Workforce Investment Council, (TWIC) following the Personnel Committee’s approval of my acceptance of the appointment by the Governor. I agreed to serve, given the role the Council plays in terms of our state’s Workforce Development System. If you are not familiar with TWIC, it is responsible to develop and foster the implementation of six year strategic plans for what is called the state’s Workforce Development System. TWIC serves as the state’s Workforce Investment Board, and develops and proposes for the Governor’s approval each six years, a strategic plan for the state’s Workforce Development System. This is inclusive of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Workforce Commission, and part of the work of five other state agencies. Once that plan is adopted, each of these agencies develops a six year strategic plan in conformance to the overall state strategic plan.
My rationale for accepting was that it would enable us to play a role in shaping state education & workforce development policy, and assist us in developing relationships that can be helpful to our efforts, not only in Arlington, but in north Texas, as our employers draw from a regional workforce.
One outgrowth of this involvement is that we have been asked (we being the Chamber’s Center for a Competitive Workforce) to lead a statewide effort with TWIC to establish pilot programs for registered apprenticeship and develop models for pre-apprenticeship. If you are not familiar with this program (and that the national regulations governing this program were recently revised), you may want to become acquainted with Allan Crawford and our Center for a Competitive Workforce. The Project will require an additional year of planning. However, by 2011 we expect to have pilot sites selected around the state that will be (1) working with independent school districts to develop pre-apprenticeship programs for high school students, and (2) local workforce boards to develop pre-apprenticeship programs for adults seeking employment. Both will tie into actual registered apprenticeship programs that will morph into new fields, such as advanced manufacturing, health care and life sciences, and aviation.
It may surprise you to learn that one of the more interested partners we’ve discussed this project with is Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, which has a keen interest in participating. DFW is, in fact, a city within itself, in terms of its operations. They envision the opportunity to develop a significant number of programs that would guide high school students, as well as out of work and under employed adults, into the various aviation related professions at the airport.
If you are interested in finding out more about this program, please contact Allan Crawford at 817-543-4293.
November Recaps
November 2, Meeting with the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center…November 3, meetings with neighborhood association and health and human service providers to discuss the Policy Project…November 4, with youth organizations to discuss the Policy Project…November 4, Foundation Board of Directors…November 6, speaking at the Heart of North Texas Business Conference…November 9-10, Washington, D.C. meeting with federal agencies relative to Chamber initiatives…November 11, meeting with the Finance Committee, Board of Directors and Personnel Committee…November 12, meeting with State Representative Joe Pickett, hosting the legislative luncheon for him (Joe is chair of the House Transportation Committee) …November 13, meeting with the Arlington Technology Incubator Board of Managers…November 13, meeting with DFW Airport Officials and UT Arlington to discuss joint projects…November 16-19, attended a Department of Defense Conference …November 20, meeting with the Regional Center for Innovation & Commercialization.
December Preview
December 1, meeting with the Corporate Leadership Council for lunch, attending the Super Bowl Host Committee, participating in the Texas Workforce Investment Council Dinner…December 2, Chairing meetings of the Texas Workforce Investment Council, meeting with the Foundation Executive Committee…December 3, attending the Texas Workforce Commission State Conference, and hosting our Legislative Luncheon Series with Senator Wendy Davis…December 4, meeting with Department of Labor Assistant Secretary Jane Oates and our Statewide Apprenticeship Steering Committee…December 7-8, in Washington, D.C. meeting with federal agencies to further Chamber initiatives…December 9, Finance Committee…December 10, Morning with the Mayor, meeting with the Chamber’s Communications Committee, and attending the Super Bowl Government Relations Committee…December 11, attending a Champion Arlington Steering Committee meeting, and meeting with faith based leaders to discuss the Policy Project…December 14, meeting with the Chamber’s Hospitality Board…December 15, meeting with the Center for Innovation at Arlington’s Board of Managers…December 15, participating in the Regional Center for Innovation & Commercialization Board of Directors meeting…December 16, with the Chamber Executive and Personnel Committees, …December 17, attending practice session at Valley Ranch with the Chamber’s Corporate Investors who have renewed their 2010 investment…December 18, speaking at Leadership North Texas.
Corporate Leadership Council
I am pleased to both welcome and announce our newest investors.
Member
AIT Technologies, Andy Nguyen
VR Business Brokers, Raj Croager
