Until real thing, there's LR Technology Park lite

The Little Rock Technology Park is already a decade in the making and has years to go before it comes to fruition in space that officials have planned for Main Street, yet the concept of "co-working" -- multiple companies sharing a work environment -- is being played out in the park's temporary space downtown.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing the location of the proposed Little Rock Technology Park site.

The technology hub, housed since January in 8,000 square feet at the ground level of 107 E. Markham St., aims to provide an environment -- facilities, mentoring, programming and financial advice -- to attract technology-based ventures and help them in their early formation.

The Little Rock Technology Park Authority plans to buy and develop space in buildings and next to a city block between Main and Scott streets off Capitol Avenue downtown. Buildings include the Exchange Bank building and its annex; KATV-TV Channel 7's studio and parking garage; a vacant structure commonly known as the old Stephens building; the home of the Mays, Byrd and Associates law firm; and five parking lots.

While in the process of developing the tech park's future home, the authorityoffers dedicated desk space for growing and startup businesses to share.

Today, the space is at capacity with 20 tenants, said director Brent Birch. He's the tech park's only employee so far.

Companies pay $150 per month for use of a desk plus wireless and hard-line Internet access, a copier/scanner and space where they can meet with vendors, clients and prospective clients.

"Basically it gets them into a professional business setting and out from working in their homes," Birch said recently. "It beats doing business out of Starbucks or some other coffee shop."

The atmosphere is not as buttoned-up as one would encounter working in a bank tower -- there's more shorts and flip-flops than suits and ties.

The authority has paid $9,500 per month for the space with the cost of rent, $7,500, subsidized by the city through the end of this month. Beginning July 1, the park will be responsible for all its expenses.

When the tech park moved there in January, so did the Arkansas Venture Center, a program designed to accelerate growth of technology-based startups and increase technical talent in central Arkansas.

"What they do brings the startups and entrepreneurs into the space through their events, through their membership, through their classroom work," Birch said. The existing and future tech park without that programming "would be just a bunch of people sitting at desks working," he said.

"We're trying to get all these type folks under one roof where they can collaborate and communicate and where one company can maybe help another company," he said. "That's the kind of environment we're trying to create here."

That innovation "ecosystem" -- the combination of physical, economic and networking assets -- is where budding tech companies want to be. Research by the Kansas City, Mo.-based nonprofit Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation said net job growth occurs in the U.S. economy only through startup firms, therefore it makes sense for cities to invest in resources and policies that foster entrepreneurship.

"One of the attributes that describes a healthy ecosystem is a requisite density of entrepreneurs that are connected to each other and the rest of the business community," researchers noted in the Kauffman-generated report "Measuring an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem."

Eric Wilson -- CEO of the tech park's newest tenant, Noble Impact -- described the co-working space as a place where organizations can "come, work and collaborate."

"The tech park isn't just a space for people to just sit down and jam out code on their laptops. It's a space where people and organizations can meet and share ideas and share resources," Wilson said.

The Little Rock native was on the founding staff of the Clinton School of Public Service and worked there from 2006-2010 before moving out of state to start his own venture. He moved back to run Noble Impact, a social entrepreneurship education venture and Clinton School partner working to develop a course that they hope to offer to every school in the state.

Other tenants at the tech park's current Markham Street location include Merger Match, which provides operational assessment for mergers and acquisitions; iDatafy, a real-time information services company whose clients include the University of Phoenix; and app-maker Apptegy.

The park even has one nontech tenant, Ecuador-based Rush Cycling Design. Global sales manager Suzanne Karklins, previously worked for another company downtown and said it's nice to be "where the action is."

"Downtown is where most of the activity seems to be going on. There's an urban feel here. It's a very creative place to think and also learn from others," she said.

"It's a good place to network and a creative place to think. There's a lot of forward-thinking people working from here," she added.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock are sponsors of the tech park, hoping the companies drawn here can help commercialize the research and other intellectual property created among the campuses. As some research projects become viable profitable business ventures, they'll need a place to go, Birch said.

Development of the park is funded by a voter-approved tax that is expected to create $22 million in capital from 2012 to 2021.

Though the temporary space is at capacity for now, more could be made available.

"If the demand requires us to provide more co-working space within this location, we will definitely try and find a way to create as much density as we can," Birch said.

SundayMonday Business on 06/21/2015

Upcoming Events