Innova: Where ideas will sprout

Funding will target startup science firms

The Commercial Appeal
October 11, 2007
By Daniel Connolly

People who have ideas for science-based businesses but need support to make them work will soon have a place to go for help.

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation is forming Innova Inc. with $11.5 million over five years from the economic development arm of Memphis Fast Forward, a strategic initiative funded by local businesses.

Innova is meant to fund promising early-stage ideas in the sciences. More importantly, the organization hopes to advise would-be entrepreneurs on topics such as defending patents and creating a management team, said Steve Bares, head of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, a nonprofit that supports science-based businesses.

"It's really not just a seed fund," he said. "It's the whole support function to get them from the idea to the point that they could attract angel investor or venture capital funding."

Most of the companies appearing at the The Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference this week were already far along in their development, and some have products on the market. They're hoping for millions of dollars in funding from venture capitalists to help expand.

By contrast, Innova would focus on businesses at their earliest stages. Bares cited the example of a professor who has made a discovery in a university lab but doesn't know how to make it further.

In the short term, Bares wants to hire one person to lead Innova. He's also looking for a five-person board to review ideas.

The organization hopes to invest in one or two companies between now and June, he said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296