NeoTech Incubator Claims Unprecedented Honor

By Susan Kim

Howard County's NeoTech Incubator won the National Business Incubation Association's (NBIA) 2007 Incubator Innovation Award for its Federal Small Business Initiative program.
The presentation marks the third time the incubator has captured the NBIA award - an unprecedented honor in the industry.
The Federal Small Business Initiative (FSBI), which is run as a Howard County government program, helps new entrepreneurs with limited staff navigate the process of obtaining federal contracts by making coaches, mentors, advisers and consultants available to assist the incubator in particular areas of development.
"No other incubator has won this award more than once," said Vic Hess, who oversees the FSBI and the incubator as a senior vice president with the Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA). "It's a very innovative group and an innovative program. There was an international crowd at the meeting and we were very proud to have been selected."
Headquartered in Columbia, the NeoTech Incubator attracts local businesses hoping to win federal government contracts. That service is considered valuable, since some government agencies don't consider small businesses good candidates for contracts because they lack resources, experience and technical expertise.

Ready for Growth
NeoTech offers a quality that's rare in today's business world and that's "sustained innovation," said Jim Sanders, director of new ventures at Honeywell Technology Solutions and a board member of the NBIA and the incubator.
"No one has won this award twice and to win it three times means the big message is that Howard County's incubator is extraordinary in its innovation and in its sustained innovation," he said.
Both Hess and Sanders reflected how, in some ways, NeoTech is one of Howard County's best kept secrets. "One of the challenges has been promotion," said Sanders. "NeoTech is part of the Howard County Economic Development Authority. Like most quasi-government activities, it has not had much of a marketing and promotion budget."
Compared to other incubators of its type across the country, NeoTech is on the small side, said Hess. "We house 20 companies while some incubators house up to 65 companies."
But today, more than 200 people are employed with companies housed at NeoTech and its leaders are looking at a new facility that will enable expansion. "Clearly, they do outstanding work and clearly they need to expand," said Sanders. "We have a very effective program and we need to grow it."

Building Small Businesses
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman offered his congratulations to the staff and businesses involved with NeoTech.
"I understand Howard County's incubator is the only one in the country to receive this award more than once and we've received it three out of the last four years," Ulman said. "That says a lot and I'm proud of the work we're doing in Howard County to give small, startup technology companies the support and resources they need to be competitive."
NeoTech leaders have designed and refined a substantive program for small businesses that builds the right kind of business-to-business chemistry, said Sanders. "Incubators are about the services and programs. Co-location doesn't, by itself, add value. More significant is that the NeoTech has a strong program about assistance and methodology."
And the incubator is market driven, he added. "As the market changes, they have created new programs that respond to how the market has changed. The buzzword in the business world is agility."
Hess said receiving the NBIA award validates the incubator's ongoing work. "Many believe that county-based incubators don't work. Not true," he said.