Start-ups go back to school to get to work

            By Deborah L. Cohen

            CHICAGO (Reuters.com) -- At many of the nation's top technology universities, school is not just for the students.
            That's the case at the Illinois Institute of Technology, known for its culturally-diverse population, modern architecture by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and proximity to downtown Chicago. There, more than 20 start-ups in industries ranging from software to biotech have set up shop at the university's technology park. 
            The park's facilities are benefiting from a major expansion. Workmen are busy painting and putting up drywall, building out sophisticated lab space and finishing offices in the newly renovated business center, which features a four-story, open-air atrium.
            The physical changes to the park are impressive, but entrepreneurs say one of the biggest draws is direct access to a qualified labor pool - students with the enthusiasm needed to work in start-up environments at a time when skilled applicants are increasingly difficult to find.
            There are other advantages: access to the university's Knapp Entrepreneurship Center, its research, library and lab facilities, as well as important relationships with movers and investors in the tech arena that can help early-stage companies take their ideas from concept to fruition.  

Going to the workforce

            "I wanted a pretty high content of engineering talent right out of university," says Chris Gladwin, chairman and chief executive of Cleversafe, which has developed a method to safeguard large amounts of content-rich information using a secure method called dispersed storage. Using Internet technology, the process slices data and stores it at multiple sites.
            Cleversafe moved to IIT's technology park in mid-2005 with just three employees. Gladwin, an MIT grad who had led other successful tech startups, put out word he was hiring. The response - more than 1,000 student resumes - was so overwhelming that the company had to devise a 10-hour test to winnow down candidates. 
            Fifteen of the some 60 original interns are now full-time staffers at the company; Cleversafe, whose ranks have grown to 37 employees, moved its offices to Chicago's downtown last month and expects to commercialize its technology in March. 
            The start-up also benefited from the university's relationships. Dennis Roberson, a vice-provost and former senior executive at cell phone maker Motorola, introduced Cleversafe to former Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin. Galvin now sits on the company's board and spearheaded its most recent round of investment financing.
            "We are likely to collaborate with the university in the future," Gladwin says.

Moving up from Miami

            Comarch, a developer of software that helps small-tier telecommunications networks manage customer service and other operations, already had a relationship with IIT through a university in Krakow, Poland, where it is headquartered. Last summer, determined to beef up its U.S. operations, Comarch sponsored an overseas summer internship for IIT students.
            "We were looking for people," says Jerry Filipiak, who heads U.S. operations. "In the meantime, we came across the IIT technology park community."
            Today six of Comarch's 25 U.S. staffers hail from the original pool of 11 interns. Since last May, the company has been relocating its U.S. operations from Miami to the IIT tech park, where it's taking over some 6,000 square feet.      
            It recruits at the university's career fairs, uses shared facilities for client presentations and is in early discussions to start an enterprise program with IIT's business school.
            For All Cell Technologies, which has developed a process to make lithium-ion batteries safer and longer-lasting by controlling their temperature, residing at the tech park was a natural: the venture was started by two IIT professors. 
            Founded in 2001, All Cell was the first resident in the park. Its technology, initially designed to help the military, is now shifting to civilian transportation applications ranging from the automobiles to electric bikes.
            "You have a lot of needs at a startup company of other expertise," says Said Al-Hallaj, an associate professor of chemical engineering who splits his time between the venture and his university teaching responsibilities, adding that the university affiliation lends credibility to his business.
            The founders say having access to university resources gives them a leg up on the competition. "We're still losing money," says Al-Hallaj, who hopes to break even this year. "But that's how these things work."

Deborah Cohen covers small business for Reuters.com. She can be reached at smallbusinessbigissues@yahoo.com.