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Tech park: business incubator study still pending

Business Today
January 22, 2010

A regional innovation study led by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber still isn’t ready for release, said officials of a state-chartered group that runs the Louisiana Technology Park on Florida Boulevard.

The Research Park Corp. board met Thursday and had planned to discuss the study. In an address on Monday, BRAC President Adam Knapp said the study, which had been expected in 2009, would be released in the next few weeks. In it, will be recommendations for harnessing the potential of the technology park and a pair of LSU-based facilities — the Louisiana Emerging Technology Center and the Louisiana Business and Technology Center — to help drive the creation of more companies with high-growth job and investment potential.

In other business, the board heard interim President Stephen Loy report that the latest Tech Park U group of eight potential technology businesses has begun an intensive advisory and development curriculum at the park that will last much of 2010.

Earlier this week, the park played host to a presentation by Clayton White and Choose Taurman, principals in New Orleans-based South Coast Angel Fund LLC, which is raising venture capital for a fund of $2 million or more. The event was attended by 20 people, Loy said.

Board member Eric Lewis, president of the Baton Rouge Black Chamber of Commerce, said an import/export symposium will be held March 30 at the Bon Carre Business Center, adjacent to the technology park.