Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I N O. X V I 78 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine I N N OVAT I O N / R & D umberland-based photojournalist Fred J. Field has completed more than 15,000 newspaper and magazine assignments. He has been a staff pho- tographer at newspapers in Maine and Massachusetts, becoming photo director at two of them. He has earned state, regional and national awards for his pho- tojournalism. For startups, TechPlace is creating 'collisions of innovation' S t o r y a n d p h o t o s b y F r e d J . F i e l d C J aimie Logan says collisions are frequent at TechPlace located near the runways of the old Brunswick Naval Air Station. But there's no need for FAA intervention. "We have collisions of innovation all the time," she says with a smile. TechPlace is Brunswick Landing's technology accelerator housed in an old aircraft hangar that's home to 38 small fledgling companies. When I got the assignment to pho- tograph TechPlace I thought the idea of a small business incubator sounded cool. It is. It's like a very special startup city. What makes it special is the coopera- tive spirit, high energy and sense of "home" that abounds. While it may take a village to raise a child, TechPlace Founder Kristine Logan believes it takes startup companies help- ing one another to raise a business and she says it happens with regularity here. "It's extremely helpful emotionally to have people from other companies around who can say to someone from a different startup who is struggling, 'Hey, we went through that and you will too, just hang in there,'" says Kristine Logan, who is executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which manages Brunswick Landing. Jaimie Logan, no relation to Kristine Logan, is TechPlace's director. She points out that while the Navy blessed the facility with an enviable infrastructure, again it's the people that make the difference. "is state has an island mental- ity where there's a spirit of coopera- tion and assistance that's so natural for Mainers. It's that 'can-do, will-do' attitude," she says. TechPlace industries must fit one of the following categories: advanced materials, composites technology, aerospace, aviation, biotech/biomed or renewable energy. With 98% occupancy, Jaimie Logan says she feels bad turning away companies. So many of the would- be tenants are in the biotech/biomed fields that Kristine Logan says there's talk of creating a TechPlace life sci- ences center elsewhere at Brunswick Landing. at would relieve some of the occupancy pressure. "It's a second home," Salmonics CEO Cem Giray says of TechPlace. "When I come in here seeing Jaimie, she's just such a welcoming person, you feel comfortable, at ease really." If the rest of the world is separated by 6 degrees, in Maine it may be closer to 2 degrees, Jaimie Logan says. "People are moving around talk- ing to each other here and they just light up," she says. "Conversations just pop up." Jaimie Logan, left, is the director of TechPlace at Brunswick Landing. With her is Kristine Logan, who founded TechPlace and was its first director. Kristine Logan is now the executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which oversees Brunswick Landing.

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