Enterprise Center Open, Nurturing New High-Tech Businesses

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart helped dedicate the Enterprise Center, the newest component of the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, during a ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 21.

The University of Arkansas Enterprise Center represents the latest step in the on-going process of taking technology created by university researchers and developing it into commercial businesses that create jobs locally while providing innovative products to the world. The Enterprise Center enables companies that have been nurtured through the Genesis Technology Incubator and the Innovation Center at the Technology Park, to move toward commercializing their products.

The Enterprise Center, located south of the University of Arkansas campus, has 65,000 square feet of space for its client companies. It is a $16 million building that was funded in part through grants from the federal government and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Construction began in June 2009. The university has applied for LEED certification for the building.

Four developing businesses are now leasing space in the Enterprise Center: SFC Fluidics, NN Laboratories, NanoMech and Arkansas Power Electronics International. All four are increasing their number of employees, and all have the potential to bring many more jobs to northwest Arkansas.

SFC Fluidics

SFC Fluidics is operating in a new 6,400 square foot state-of-the-art production and testing facility at the Enterprise Center that includes five laboratories and administrative offices. The company is scaling up production of its patented and patent-pending miniaturized pumping technologies that enable more powerful analytical tools used in life science research instruments. The company has received funding from the U.S. Army Medical and Material Command and will soon begin delivering hand-held devices for the rapid detection of traumatic brain injury. This device requires only a pin prick sample of blood, similar to a blood glucose test for diabetes, to conduct a rapid, detailed blood analysis within a single sealed, disposable chip. The device reads the levels of specific biomarkers that are released by the brain when it is injured; these levels are displayed on an easy-to-read screen, along with an indicator that tells the operator if there is an injury, and whether it is mild, moderate or severe.

NanoMech

NanoMech was founded in 2002 and currently operates a manufacturing facility in Springdale that employs more than 20 people. The company's products are based on a patented technology that allows nanoparticles to be applied to surfaces in coating form, creating coatings that have extremely beneficial properties. These nanoparticles can be 1,000 to 10,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair.

NanoMech has 4,778 square feet of office space in the Enterprise Center for its administrative headquarters, from which the company plans to develop and deliver new breakthrough nanoparticle innovations.

NN-Labs

NN-Labs develops and manufactures high performance, high quality colloidal nanocrystals for solid-state lighting, solar photovoltaic and biomedical applications. The company has designed a 2,600 square foot chemical synthesis laboratory to produce large-scale quantities of their nanomaterials for application in solid-state lighting. NN-Labs also has active internal projects under way to evaluate using their nanomaterials in life science applications and semiconductor lasers. 

Arkansas Power Electronics International

Arkansas Power Electronics International, a winner of the prestigious R&D 100 award in 2009, has positioned itself among the leaders in the development of advanced power electronic systems for military, aerospace and other high performance platforms. The company’s space at the Enterprise Center includes a manufacturing line, including two class 1,000 clean rooms for the processing and assembly of power electronics.

APEI is specifically working at the Enterprise Center to commercialize an all-silicon carbide power module for application in the U.S. Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the U.S. Army’s hybrid-electric vehicle ground combat program. The company is also targeting expansion into more commercial applications for the module as well, such as in drives for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.