Emerging businesses sometimes encounter tremendous challenges when introducing a new product or service that is unfamiliar to the public. Start-up companies can have a higher rate of success, however, when they form partnerships with renowned businesses that will provide assistance.
The Baird Research Park, UB's technology incubator, assists these types of new-technology businesses by providing office and lab space for growing companies, with affordable services. Fledgling companies have a chance to share ideas and interact with each other while the university supplies the manpower and infrastructure to facilitate them.
The program provides support in the form of mentoring, networking and general encouragement, which contribute to an environment crucial to the success of entrepreneurial endeavors.
As a result, these businesses will be better equipped to make the transition from the vulnerable start-up period to grow to an independent, thriving, self-sufficient corporation, according to Lorraine Wappman, a business advocate in the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, a department in the facility.
Located on Sweet Home Road in Amherst, the Baird Research Park is a 40,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility that provides start-up ventures access to a variety of both technological and professional research-oriented resources. Student interns, faculty members, technical experts, attorneys and consultants provide their services at discounted rates or at no cost at all.
"Our employees enjoy the work environment here at the Baird Research Park," said Bill Ferguson, chief operating officer of Ony, a company currently conducting research at the incubator.
Ony is a pharmaceutical company founded by world-renowned researcher in pulmonary disease Edmund Eden and a former researcher in UB's department of physiology. The company's product "ifasurf" helps premature infants diagnosed with Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a condition characterized by breathing problems associated with undeveloped lung tissue.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the product in 1998 as a safe and effective standard of care for hospitals.
"We cherish the feeling of satisfaction from helping these premature babies who would have otherwise encountered mortality without our contributions," said Ferguson. The company is currently expanding its product and is studying its use as a powder in adult care.
Baird Research Park also provides both employment opportunities and research experience to international students who sometimes encounter difficulty finding off-campus employment due to citizenship status.
"The program here is of great importance for international students that seek on-campus work," said Sriram Vilayanoor, an industrial engineering student and graduate assistant at the incubator. "I earn pay here and also get hands-on experience from various engineering projects that we conduct.
