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NBIA Honors Excellence in Business Incubation

Friday, May 30, 2003

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) honored six top incubation programs, graduates and clients at its 17th International Conference on Incubation, held May 18-21 in Richmond, Va. Award winners are highlighted below:

  • The Business Technology Center (BTC) of Columbus, Ohio, received the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year Award, which honors NBIA's first chairman of the board. During fiscal year 2002, BTC client companies created more than 100 jobs and generated approximately $8.1 million in investments.
  • The Toronto Business Development Centre was named Incubator of the Year in the mixed-use category. The 11 companies that graduated from the program in 2002 created 25 full-time and 150 part-time jobs and generated $1.8 million in annual sales last year — up from $170,000 when they entered the incubator.
  • The Howard County Economic Development Authority's NeoTech Incubator of Columbia, Md., won the Innovation Award for Angels and Eggs, a program designed to bring together local angel investors and incubator clients to educate each other about their needs and expectations. The inaugural event attracted more than 30 incubator clients from throughout Maryland and 50 angel investors.
  • SoftSolutions Information Technology, a graduate of the New Century Venture Center, was named the Outstanding Incubator Graduate in the technology category. SoftSolutions, of Roanoke, Va., develops performance management tools for manufacturers and employs 17 people.
  • Pangea Inc., a construction firm based in St. Louis, received the Outstanding Incubator Client award in the manufacturing/service category. Pangea is a client of the St. Louis Enterprise Centers.
  • ViewPlus Technologies Inc., a client of the Business Enterprise Center, was named Outstanding Incubator Client in the technology category. Based in Corvallis, Ore., ViewPlus commercializes technologies that help the visually impaired access graphical information tactilely.

A nonprofit organization, NBIA advances business incubation and entrepreneurship by providing training and information on incubator management and development issues and on tools for assisting start-up firms. For more information, visit NBIA at http://www.nbia.org.

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