Friday, September 12, 2008

How We See It

N.H., Maine get lost in Hub’s glare

By Mass High Tech Staff

How many times have you heard about the “valley of death” in the past year? And yet how many angel investors keep popping up to help launch new and innovative startups? Even the states are jumping into the fray — from Massachusetts’ $1 billion life sciences booster shot to the Maine Technology Institute’s “cluster initiative” to less structured efforts to get needed funds to startups.

In this week’s issue, we report on the effort by the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center to help fund startups by working with a pair of fairly new angel groups. One group is celebrating its one-year anniversary and expects to have its first tech investment, while the other Granite State group was founded in 2005 and invested in six tech companies. We also report in this issue about the Maine Technology Institute and its commitment to boost the amount of money it doles out to deserving technology companies in the Pine Tree State. MTI is also focused on building tech clusters in the state around certain fields such as high-tech composites, biotech and alternative energy, and this new effort also aims to engender greater interaction between clusters.

Such cooperation is crucial for the success of the region overall — and could be taken to the next level. What, for example, can the northern New England states learn from the Bay State’s successes — and its failures, for that matter? So often, the work to finance innovation in other parts of New England gets lost in the glare from Boston. Perhaps the time has come for state funding agencies — and the angel investors working behind the scenes — to come together across state borders for the regional good.