Beyond LSU | Louisiana Business & Technology Center

LBTC's business incubator nurtures small business success

LBTC facade The commercialization of technology and the careful incubation of start-up ventures have become powerful engines of the economic development in the last several decades. The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), which has been in existence since 1985, offers statistics suggesting why “incubation” is increasingly becoming the mantra for development planners and creators for the company. For instance, 87 percent of companies that are graduates of incubators are in business five years later, while the average survival of businesses that have not started in incubators is 20 to 30 percent.

Andy McCandless (left), president of Mezzo Systems, discusses his company to Sen. Mary Landrieu and Secretary of Economic Development Don Hutchinson.

The NBIA recently ranked the Louisiana Business & Technology Center (LBTC) business incubator at LSU as a “top performing technology incubator.” These rankings, based on a 12-month analysis funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Technology Policy. The study ranked LBTC third out of 79 U.S. technology business incubators in terms of the average employment growth of its client companies.

“The ultimate goal of an incubation program is to facilitate the business success of its clients companies,” said Dinah Adkins, president and chief executive officer of the NBIA. “The LBTC has created a program that provides technology entrepreneurs with the resources they need to create high-growth enterprises, which has benefitted both the entrepreneurs and the Baton Rouge community.”

LBTC lab Business-incubation programs, such as the one at the LBTC, aid growing companies by providing entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks, and tools they need to make their new ventures a success. These programs help emerging businesses survive the risky start-up phase by providing them with a variety of support services, including flexible leases and on-site counseling. The goal is to graduate successful firms that create jobs and boost the economy in their communities.

Since opening in 1988, the LBTC has graduated 89 tenant companies, 73 of which are still in business—an 80 percent success rate.

The LBTC has also:

provided management assistance to more than 2,750 businesses and entrepreneurs;
helped start more than 346 businesses;
created or saved an estimated 8,034 jobs;
supported 1,343 companies in the Small Business Innovative Research program;
and, since January of 1999, facilitated funding of $25,365,218 in equity, grants, and loans.

“Our success is judged by the success of the LBTC tenants and clients that have created thousands of jobs in Louisiana. We feel that we have made a difference in the economy of Baton Rouge and the state,” said Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the LBTC.

Written by: Laura Fonti | University Relations
Last updated January 2003