NBIA Honors Excellence in Business Incubation

Each year, the National Business Incubation Association April 28, 2004 - The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) honored seven top incubation programs, graduates and clients during the 18th International Conference on Business Incubation in Atlanta Monday (April 26).

Winners include The New Century Venture Center (NCVC) of Roanoke, Va.; the University of Central Florida (UCF) Technology Incubator of Orlando; the Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA) of Columbia, Md.; gh LLC of West Lafayette, Ind.; Hygia Health Services Inc. of Birmingham, Ala.; Cognoscenti Health Institute of Orlando; and Trident Clinical Research of Port Adelaide, Australia.

Business incubation programs catalyze the process of starting and growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need to make their ventures successful. In 2001 alone, North American incubators assisted more than 35,000 start-up companies that provided full-time employment for nearly 82,000 workers and generated earnings of more than $7 billion.

NCVC, a nonprofit, mixed-use incubator, received the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award. Since 1996, the incubator has assisted more than 75 technology and service companies. The incubators 25 graduates have created nearly 200 new jobs in the Roanoke region, and several have bought their own buildings.

NBIAs most prestigious honor, the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award is presented annually in honor of Dr. Whaley, the associations first chairman of the board.

The UCF Technology Incubator was named Incubator of the Year in the technology category. The incubators client companies have created more than 400 jobs and $140 million in revenues in the incubators four years of operation. Its client companies currently have more than 400 employees and 48 UCF student interns, and work with more than 50 UCF faculty members.

HCEDA received the Incubator Innovation Award for its Sustainable Business Excellence (SBE) process. SBE enables business incubator staff to link a businesss development to a series of major milestones in areas such as funding, marketing and product development. The process provides quantitative measures of business development, which, in turn, gives incubator managers a clear direction for administering business assistance to their clients.

gh LLC, a graduate of the Purdue Research Parks Gateways Program, was named Outstanding Incubator Graduate in the technology category. The company helps people with visual disabilities access information through a variety of media formats and software applications.

Hygia Health Services, which processes low-cost, high-volume medical devices for reuse, received the Outstanding Incubator Graduate award in the manufacturing/service category. Hygia is a graduate of the Office for the Advancement of Developing Industries Technology Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Cognoscenti Health Institute, a client of the UCF Technology Incubator, was named Outstanding Incubator Client in the technology category. The company uses information technology and emerging biotechnology to deliver medical laboratory services to patients, physicians, clinics and hospitals.

Trident Clinical Research, a research company that organizes and coordinates clinical trials for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device clients, received the Outstanding Incubator Client award in the manufacturing/service category. Trident is a client of Todd Street Business Chambers.

The National Business Incubation Association is the worlds leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. Each year, NBIA honors the business incubation programs, graduates and client companies that exemplify the best of the industry.
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