Sirti’s success is a growing story

Sirti has been a cornerstone of Spokane’s University District for about a dozen years, yet most folks still have no idea what it is or what it does.

That’s beginning to change.

A state agency created in 1994 to jump-start regional economic development, Sirti is emerging from a period of whirlwind change.

In the last 18 months, management’s been overhauled. The mission statement’s morphed from fostering science research to nurturing high-potential, high-tech companies. The amount of space for start-ups quadrupled with the addition of a new technology center. A $3 million technology loan fund has been set up. And new strategies for strengthening young tech companies are in play.

“There’s a great deal of excitement with what we’re doing. Companies are beginning to flourish under this environment. I’m excited to be a part of it and I think the board is excited to be a part of it,” said Greg Bever, chairman of Sirti’s board of directors.

Sirti works with start-up and high-growth tech companies focusing on four areas: “Bioproducts” and health sciences; energy and the environment; value-added agriculture; and defense and homeland security.

Most clients lease office and lab space in either the Sirti incubator on Riverpoint Boulevard or its new technology center across the street. To qualify for assistance, companies must possess defensible intellectual property, large market potential and its founders must be willing to follow Sirti’s advice on commercializing their creations.

Sirti began to hone operations in 2004 after its fourth director in a decade stepped down and incubator vacancies soared.

“Sirti needed to go to the next step. We had the new technology center ready to come online and we had partners and tenants ready to continue their development,” said Bever, who’s been on the board for about three years and is also publisher of The Journal of Business, based in Spokane. That publication is owned by Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

The board tapped Kim Zentz to head the agency in March 2005. An engineer by training, Zentz founded Avista Labs, now ReliOn, and through that company was one of Sirti’s first major high-tech tenants. From there, she became chief operating officer of the Spokane Transit Authority. Since she’s taken over, all 11,000 square feet of Sirti’s incubator space is occupied and there’s room for only one more tenant in the 39,000-square-foot Sirti Technology Center, which opened earlier this year. She’s also helped assemble a team of managers to counsel Sirti clients.

“We’re feeling pretty good as we wrap up this year with 23 on-campus tenants and about 15-20 walk-ins,” which are established companies that seek Sirti out for consultations, Zentz said in a recent interview in her Sirti office. All of that was accomplished without an increase in budget, she said.

John Pariseau, general manager of the Spokane-based angel investment group WIN Partners, said Sirti is really coming into its own.

“Sirti, under Kim Zentz, has done a lot of good work and is making good progress. It’s more willing to work with other local organizations rather than get into turf battles that have plagued Spokane in the past,” said Pariseau, who’s in investment talks with some Sirti clients.

Among Sirti’s newest tenants are: Signature Genomics, a pioneer in human genetic testing; View-All Systems, which combines camera and telescope technology in security systems; REGI U.S., a manufacturer of rotary engines able to operate on traditional and alternative fuels; and Networking Computing Architects, Inc., provider of computer networking and telecommunications products.

Assisting them are new Sirti hires John Overby, founder of four Inland Northwest high-tech companies, who assists clients with their company’s growth, production and the move to market, and Tim Williams, a former Agilent Technologies and Hewlett-Packard finance manager who is in charge of administration and finance.

Linda Hemingway, a veteran marketing communications and sales professional, oversees direct marketing for Sirti and its clients. Mike Urso, who spent 15 years in marketing and business development for Fortune 500 companies, works on product and new business development. Frank Hutchinson, a technology expert with a doctoral degree in physics, works in client services.

Sirti’s services are free. Tenants pay only for leases, set in sync with the local real estate market. Seventeen staffers administer programs and services. The agency operates on an annual $1.5 million budget; $1 million comes from the state and leases generate about $600,000.

Sirti tenants have access to a secure computer network, offices with phone and mail services, meeting and conference rooms, lab space and funding recommendations. All agree to “graduation dates” when they’ll move to commercial digs, usually less than three years after their Sirti lease begins.

Client companies are coached through an “innovation continuum” that encompasses product development, market development and business planning. The idea is to up the odds companies will successfully shift from research to product commercialization and sales.

Sirti also introduces its clients to lenders, angel investors and oversees a new technology growth fund set up to assist companies that don’t qualify for conventional financing.

“It’s like being at the Saturday soccer game all week, cheering those companies on,” said Zentz.