Friday, January 30, 2009

UMass Boston extends its venture initiatives

By E. Douglas Banks

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Four years ago, a health science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston wanted to create a fitness center for obese youths in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Boston, but he needed help finding funds and business plan expertise.

So he turned to the city campus’ Venture Development Center, the business development arm of the vice provost for research’s office, and a research partnership was put together in 2006.

The UMass Boston Venture Development Center (VDC) is now broadening its reach, both on campus and in the technology community — expanding into a brand-new, 18,000-square-foot former cafeteria and creating relationships with venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The space includes four wet labs and two software labs, as well as conference and meeting spaces for faculty, students and resident entrepreneurs to share ideas and, ideally, create new technology ventures.

The center’s executive director is assistant vice provost William Brah, who has overseen the expansion project. He said the center will open officially on May 1. Resident partners will pay the VDC a monthly fee of $1,250 per person for office space, $2,500 per person for labs.

In the meantime, VC firms such as North Bridge Venture Partners and .406 Ventures are taking advantage of work being done by the center’s executive in residence, Dan Phillips, a guest lecturer and business mentor with strong ties to the local tech community. Phillips has helped run four VC-backed software companies in the Boston area over the past two decades, including Concord Communications Inc., which reached a $800 million market cap, and most recently SilverBack Technologies, where he was CEO until it was acquired by Dell Inc. in 2007.

Maria Cirino, managing director of .406 Ventures, said her firm is in the process of placing UMass Boston interns into its startups. The draw, she said, is not only access to affordable, talented young people in a time of tight cash, but also having someone like Phillips behind the process.

“You have an incredibly seasoned, successful entrepreneur doing all the legwork, matching our companies’ needs with the students,” Cirino said.

Marlborough-based startup Brighton House Associates LLC is on its second wave of interns provided by the center. President and COO Dennis Ford, a friend and former colleague of Phillips, said he hopes to hire some of those students once they graduate. Brighton House, founded in 2006, created a technology that matches alternative investment managers to investors. It employs 34 and is growing, Ford said.

UMass Boston chancellor Keith Motley said his office supported the project, which involved raising $8.5 million in outside funds since 2004, because the school is aiming to become a more collaborative, more innovative research university. Motley also said the VDC and its efforts help the school attract higher-caliber faculty and students.

For Phillips, the VDC’s growth and its community outreach are part of a trend among smaller campuses looking to innovate. “This allows people to test ideas in software, marketing, finance, getting interns to test prototypes for short money,” Phillips said. “UMass Boston, which is not considered this today, will be considered a thought leader in entrepreneurship. Things are changing.”