NewMIC incubator expands beyond first-year expectations, launches new fund

The Vancouver-based New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC) has launched its second phase of initiatives to accelerate the development of research projects with commercial potential by funding a company under its new product development fund. The $400,000 kitty for startups in ventures related to the centre’s seven research clusters is the latest initiative by NewMIC to supplement a greatly expanded role in new media research and development. President and CEO Alan Winter tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the timing for a first investment is right now that the centre’s research clusters and first lab are operating at full speed. The fund’s first recipient, Vancouver’s Exponentia Communications Corp., will receive a $50,000 investment to commercialize its communications platform. The funding, administered through the BC Advanced Systems Institute, is typical of how NewMIC will make future funding rounds. It will invest a maximum of $50,000 or 75 per cent of chosen projects’ costs, and applicants will be expected to contribute between 25 per cent and 50 per cent of their costs. The announcement comes on the heels of two major developments at NewMIC. On October 18, the organization opened its 25,000 square-foot research facility at Vancouver’s Harbour Centre (CNM, March 8/01), including a new $2-million virtual reality lab funded by Industry Canada’s Western Economic Diversification Canada. Just prior to that, Sony Corp. of America signed on to become a sustaining member of NewMIC, committing $1.5 million over five years to the organization. Sony’s participation brings to seven the number of sustaining members in NewMIC, and the body’s total funding to $22 million over five years – far greater than the $12.5 million anticipated when the incubator first opened its doors. Besides the original members – IBM, Nortel Networks Corp., Xerox PARC, and Electronic Arts – the centre now counts Telus Corp. and Sierra Wireless as members as well as Sony. There are a further 16 smaller companies that now have memberships in NewMIC, as well as Calgary success story TRLabs, a noted wireless R&D incubator. The seven companies are conducting research into seven areas of new media interest: e-business (IBM), e-lifestyles (Telus), next-generation Internet (Nortel), online gaming (Electronic Arts), rich media and entertainment (Sony), and wireless broadband (Sierra Wireless). In addition, Xerox PARC sponsors a University of British Columbia faculty member to study software languages related to new media. The research clusters and new virtual reality lab are now sharing space at the facility with a variety of technology transfer bodies, including the well-known Industrial Research Assistance Program. In addition, the facility now houses several professional services arms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, the law firm Fasken Martineau, Discovery Capital and Simon Fraser Univentures, among others. Further, the facility is home to a number of startup companies in the incubation phase. Those companies are in the process of commercializing technology developed in the organization’s R&D programs, and will keep the associated intellectual property. Earlier R&D conducted at NewMIC’s facilities, however, will continue to be owned by NewMIC. The growth in the number of companies connected with NewMIC, says Winter, meant taking over the full 25,000 square-foot facility, and not just half as had originally been anticipated. Winter agrees that the centre represents an industry anomaly by expanding beyond original plans and winning as much funding as it has. As for the product development fund, there are as yet no further winners to announce. Winter says that the pool hasn’t been earmarked for any one given research cluster, or any cash pre-determined for any given type of project. He says this is deliberate, since commercial potential can’t be assessed in advance for any of the activities ongoing at the centre.

NewMIC incubator expands beyond first-year expectations, launches new fund

News | 11/29/2001 5:00 am EST

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