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Med school takes hit: IU trims $5.2 million from budget, cuts 36 positions

The school tabled some construction plans and may have to curtail recruiting of “star” faculty in areas such as diabetes research, said Dr. Craig Brater, the school’s dean. On top of that, the school cut 36 positions and halted spending for several programs after it was hit by decreases in state funding and grants, and a rise in expenses. Brater said the medical school has been lucky “in large part” to receive the funding it needed over the years. He…

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VIEWPOINT: Creativity is key to competitive advantage

Central Indiana is flat as a result of the Laurentide ice sheet that surged toward Indianapolis 17,000 years ago. Today, the whole world is flat as a result of the technological and social seismic shifts that effectively leveled the economic world, and “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next-door neighbors,” says Thomas L. Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times. Richard Florida, researcher on regional economic development, challenges Friedman’s metaphor. Florida says, “The world is even more concentrated,…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Indiana must not let TDL opportunities elude its grasp

Unlike some other Hoosier economic initiatives, much of the required infrastructure to rapidly advance TDL into significant growth is already in place. More Interstate highways cross the state An economic development analyst determining the physical advantages of Indiana might initially be challenged. Indiana has no oceans. No mountains. No temperate climate. But the Hoosier state does possess one singular unmatched physical plus: It is the state geographically closest to the bulk of most U.S. major markets. For more than a…

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Seed funding falling short: BioCrossroads to offer $6 million less than originally hoped

It’s the Catch-22 of entrepreneurship. Attracting investment money is most difficult during the earliest days, exactly when startups need it most. BioCrossroads hopes to break that tricky cycle with its new $4 million seed-stage venture capital fund, Indiana Seed Fund I. But when fund raising was launched last year, the life sciences initiative aimed for $10 million. At about $250,000 per deal, BioCrossroads can do up to 15 deals-or two dozen fewer than it had intended. “We would certainly have…

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State eyes inland ports to bolster TDL: ‘Dry’ hubs under consideration in 3 parts of the state could be boon to transportation, distribution, logistics

The construction of intermodal hubs in Indiana could add thousands of jobs to the state’s transportation/distribution/logistics industry, an area targeted by officials as an economic pillar to pursue. The General Assembly gave the Indiana Ports Commission the authority two years ago to build the hubs-“dry ports” where cargo is transferred between train and truck. While the projects remain in the planning stages, supporters cite Indiana’s central location as a primary factor to build the facilities. At least three locations are…

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Network Engineering Inc.: Computer firm remains flexible Owner says diversifying keeps company nimble

He started the original version of his business back in 1984, fresh out of college. One Internet, one dot-com boom, one Y2K and one dot-com crash later, he’s still in business. Spilker is president of Network Engineering Inc., which is essentially a spin-off of his original company, Information Engineering Inc. A lifelong Indianapolis resident, he graduated from Purdue University with a degree in computer technology. As soon as he graduated, he started Information Engineering because he wanted to run things…

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Finances another obstacle for Rose: University’s money problems predate controversial leader

In Terre Haute, his management style has come across like a bull in a china shop. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s faculty and students voted “no confidence” in his abilities. The university’s staff will soon take a vote of its own, and an upcoming trustee meeting will likely address the matter. But as the tide of opinion turned against Rose-Hulman President Jack Midgley, detractors stopped asking a fundamentally important question: Could Midgley be right about the need for change? Last September,…

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Stutz’s future includes condos: Developer envisions high-rise, nightclub as part of biz center

Stutz Business Center owner and visionary Turner Woodard last month rolled out a 10-year master plan for the Stutz that could bring condominiums, retail and a high-rise tower to the former auto-manufacturing plant at 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. Right now, Woodard concedes many of his plans are dreams. But with a blossoming life sciences corridor just to the west along the Central Canal, Woodard said he wants the 80-year-old Stutz to continue to be a hub of activity as…

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Twilight fund fades away: Meanwhile, six BioCrossroads-backed VCs are just getting started

Its specialty is developing local life sciences startups. But its partners can’t raise any more money. So the sun is setting on Twilight Venture Partners. Meanwhile, the six venture capital firms BioCrossroads staked with its $73 million Indiana Future Fund have just three local investments to show among them. Venture investments take time, the six IFF recipients argue. And their first duty is to earn the high rate of return the IFF’s organizers demand. That means significant proof of concept…

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Rose-Hulman aims for education, not incubation: Michigan-based EDF Ventures takes lead of Indiana Future Fund-backed partnership REI Ventures

The name is unchanged, but under Jack Midgley education comes first at Rose-Hulman Ventures. Business incubation is a distant second. And speculation on high-tech startups is outside the university’s core mission. “The function of Ventures is education, because the function of Rose-Hulman is the education of engineers,” said Midgley, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s embattled president. “Ventures is not a separate entity. It’s part of the undergraduate program at Rose-Hulman, like the math department or the mechanical engineering department.” Named president…

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Forums seek out diamonds in rough: Future Fund events link VCs with entrepreneurs

With $15 million to plow into early-stage companies, Indianapolis-based Pearl Street Venture Funds is one of several venture capital firms searching for promising technologies to fortify with a cash infusion. In return, the investors hope to stumble upon the next Eli Lilly and Co., or at the very least, an enterprise that eventually becomes profitable and attractive enough for acquisition. The process of locating such diamonds in the rough, however, can be arduous and time-consuming. To that end, the Indiana…

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Sales, new spec space in the cards at Intech: Intech One and Two likely to fetch top dollar, draw national interest, investment broker says

Two years ago, Lauth Property Group Inc.’s Intech Park was arguably the most prominent sign of central Indiana’s soft office market. The northwest-side park’s largest buildings, Intech One and Two, had entire floors vacant and awaiting completion. Acterna LLC was pulling out of its 140,000-square-foot building, a retreat symbolic of the technology bust’s effect on the larger suburban office market. Today, helped by a robust investment market and Intech’s recent state designation as a certified technology park, Lauth hopes the…

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IU planning logistics center: University seeks funds for facility to provide services to TDL industry

Indiana University officials say they’re shopping for a site near the airport or in Plainfield for a laboratory to help grow the state’s transportation-distribution-logistics industry-known as TDL. The IU Supply Chain Control Center would evaluate for companies the feasibility and cost benefits of new technologies that could be used to improve sourcing, production and product distribution. The service would be provided at no or little cost. But the center faces a logistics challenge of its own-a delivery of cash. IU…

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Experts see improving market: Higher occupancy rates, more construction projects mean good news for landlords, developers

IBJ: Is your sector of the construction or real estate industry better or worse off than a year ago and why? BURK: Overall, I think the Indianapolis office market is better off than it was a year ago. The occupancy rate for the 29-million-plus square feet of multitenant office properties in the market increased by about 2 percent last year, to 82.5 percent. There was positive net absorption of about 600,000 square feet, most of which occurred in the suburbs….

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Two Indiana startups chosen to compete nationally:

Two of the eight finalists that will participate in a national competition of bioscience startup companies at Purdue University are from Indiana. Omni Spray and QuadraSpec will compete in the third annual Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition against companies affiliated with several renowned universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University. The companies will present business plans for bringing their products to market and be judged by a panel of venture capitalists,…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Be yourself-maximize your assets

Be who you are. Conversely, don’t try to be somebody you’re not. Focus on what you do best, and you’ll succeed. When we think of people who excel at anything … Joshua Bell playing the violin, Reggie Miller shooting three-pointers, Dr. Lawrence Einhorn treating cancer … we understand they have achieved their success by focusing on their God-given talents, developing them, and practicing, practicing, practicing. Communities are much the same, though the philosophy could be amended to read a more…

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Incubator lures biotech upstart: Fish vaccine biz hoping to land on canal

Hatching new businesses is getting to be routine for Indiana University. So it was easy for Richard Wagner to contemplate moving his biotech startup from Columbus, Ohio, into IU’s 2-year-old business incubator on the Central Canal. “It’s an excellent facility. Every time I go up, I’m more and more impressed with it,” Wagner said. “They put a lot of thought into designing it to meet the needs of life science and biotechnology research.” Wagner, who holds a doctorate in plant…

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Council launches new HR initiative: Target is small companies that have no administrator

Small-business owners who need help wading through myriad human resources issues now have another source to consider-the Indianapolis Private Industry Council Inc. The 23-year-old IPIC, better known for overseeing the seven WorkOne career centers in Marion County, has leapt into the HR arena by partnering with a handful of professionals who have agreed to honor the agency’s low-cost pledge. Sixty thousand people walk through the doors of the centers each year looking for work. But many of their potential employers-many…

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Million dollar baby: Hospital reaps benefits of caring for high-profile boy A public relations jackpot

The Afghan boy may have arrived last month at Riley Hospital for Children with heart trouble and a need for complicated surgery. But behind those soft, brown eyes and that adorable smile lies a 12-cylinder marketing engine. A sample of the 15-month-old’s power: Qudrat’s often-reported story created at least $1 million in free media for Riley, according to hospital officials. That’s 10 times the amount Riley spends on print or broadcast advertising in a year. He could be responsible for…

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IP center at IUPUI gets off to quick start: Facility lands first grant, hopes to sell naming rights

Legal scholar Kenneth Crews is a man of many hats who toils at 12-hour workdays as the upstart Center for Intellectual Property and Innovation on the campus of IUPUI begins to gain momentum. The center, whose mission is to produce attorneys fluent in the burgeoning IP practice area, was launched in May under the auspices of the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. The goal is to raise at least $1.5 million to jump-start a program that would grant…

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