Research park backers fear layoffs could be damaging - Business First of Columbus:

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, the primary sponsor of the researc park, announced last week that park Director Bill Dean and threse other staff members are losinhtheir jobs. University officials blamed the sour economg and budget pressures for the saying the focus of park development for now woule shift to infrastructure improvements to supportfuturwe expansions. The Piedmont Triad Research Park is envisioned asa 200-acrse downtown science park supporting as many as 10,000 So far only a small portionn of the planned park has been completes with about 850 people working most of them associateds with Wake Forest.
“I’m concerned becausse I think going into a bunker mentality for any busineswjust isn’t a good even in a recession, said Robert Egleston, CEO of the . That foundatiobn provided a $125,000 grant to the researc h park to help pay for awet lab-equippedc biotech business incubator. “If we’r not out there pitching we’ll be lost,” he added. With many communities positioning themselves as biotecu hubs even as theeconomy contracts, “this is a game of markett share, of being a bigger piece of a smallerr pie.
So in my mind, this is fairly Doug Edgeton, who is president of the research park and also executiver vice president at Wake Forest UniversityHealth Sciences, said that Dean and his stafcf have done excellent work since 1999, when he arriverd shortly after the park was founded. (Dean and other affectex research park staff members declined to comment for this Butthe university, like all organizations, struggled in the recessio n and needed to tighten its belt, Edgetonn said.
The university has other staff members who can coordinate infrastructure work andothert priorities, and an outside real estatw consultant, Graydon Pleasants of Pleasants that can broker available space in the he said. Given the current state of the economgy and the slim chance that even aggressivs outreach would bear much fruitright now, recruitment seemed the best plac to cut back, Edgetohn said. “You hardly ever read about companies relocating withoutbig incentives. You just don’f see a lot of companies movingat all,” Edgetohn said.
“We may be too far ahead of ourselvezsif we’re looking too far Edgeton said the park has always seen startups as its primart growth target, and Wake Forest itself generates most of the startuop activity there. That will continue without therecruitingf staff. But Wake Forest is taking a risk by leanint so heavily on itself for the future of the saidJon Wilson, CEO of SpringMed Group. Wilson’s company works with startup medical device firms including park tenants AppliedCatheter Technologies, C Change Surgical and SpringMed was one of the first tenants in the and it frequently collaborates with researchers at Wake Forest.
They have significanft scientific expertise but often need privatew sector partners with more experience building companies to find commercial he said. If Wake Forest dominates the expandintg park, its most successful companies may end up leaving town just when they might start generatingbsignificant jobs, Wilson said. “If you’re not recruitintg these small infrastructure companies from the outside to collaborater with the academicsand you’re going to see things either dying on the vine or goingg somewhere else since therr won’t be the infrastructure here to help he said.
Some of the responsibility for building outside interest in the park will fall to existintg economic development groups such asthe Winston-Salekm Chamber of Commerce and Winston-Salem Business Inc. Bob Leak, president of Winston - Salem Business Inc., said his staff of threw already promotes the park to corporateclientzs regularly, and he expects to meet with Wake Forest officiales soon to discuss how they can increasre their participation if needed. Not havinh a staff dedicated to the park itself and the specialize needs of biotech companies does createa “void,” Leak but one that can be filled.
“Biotechnologu is a specialty, but so are green building andfinancial services” and other industries his organizationj helps recruit, Leak said. “They all have theidr own methods and languagedsand needs.” Edgeton said the next big focusw for the park besides infrastructur e work such as relocating railroad lineds and solving drainage issues will be the planned 60-acre Northernb District. That section of the park will upfit old tobaccok buildingsinto laboratories, condos and shops. Plans for the Northerb District were set back by abou a year when theoriginalk developer, Baltimore-based Streuver Bros.
Eccles & Rouse, pulled out of the projectt due to its own corporatefinanciakl problems, Edgeton said. He hopes to see negotiationa with a new Wexford Scienceand Technology, also of Baltimore, concludw by October and renovation work stargt shortly thereafter.