Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 M AY 1 5 , 2 0 1 7 www.HancockLumber.com/Culture THE HEART OF HANCOCK LUMBER Tr Tr T ee to Timber: Educating the Next Generation Since 1848, Hancock Lumber has been growing trees and manufacturing them into lumber right here in Maine. On display at the Children's Museum in Portland, our interactive exhibit teaches the next generation how a tree is processed through our sawmills. House bill aims to build on MTI's successes B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y T he scope of Maine Technology Institute's mission in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in Maine would be broadened under a bill proposed by state Rep. Martin Grohman, D-Biddeford. LD 1324, "An Act To Support Innovation, Entrepre- neurship and Maine's Economic Future," earned an "ought to pass as amended" recommendation from the Legislature's Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee on April 25 following a public hearing hosted by the committee earlier in the month. Grohman told Mainebiz that the bill would allow MTI to establish additional programs and collaborate with other organizations to foster small business cre- ation, provide training and mentorship opportunities and protect intellectual property. "I think they do a great job," he said. "I went to MTI early in the process and told them I wanted them to have more leeway in their statute, which hasn't been updated since they were created in 1999. That's a big driver for this bill: It gives MTI greater latitude to fully develop and support Maine's entrepreneurial landscape." Expanding MTI's scope In brief, Grohman's bill would authorize MTI to do the following: ¡ Administer a technology center. ¡ Establish a program to promote and encourage busi- ness incubators and accelerators through grants and other forms of fi nancial assistance, including programs that train or educate entrepreneurs. ¡ Establish a program in cooperation with the Univer- sity of Maine System to "provide summer internship opportunities for college students in the entrepre- neurial support system." ¡ Establish a program in collaboration with the Maine Innovation Economy Advisory Board to support the technology transfer activities of the University of Maine System and other organizations; to increase their level of patenting; and to promote the licens- ing of patents, "especially to new and existing companies" in Maine. ¡ Establish a program in collaboration with the Uni- versity of Maine School of Law "to support the commercialization and manufacturing of innova- tions" in Maine by providing technical assistance to Maine companies, innovators and entrepreneurs. Additional benefi ts Grohman said his bill also supports MTI as the logical entity to take over administration of three incubator programs within the Applied Technology Development Center that are slated to be zeroed out in Gov. Paul LePage's $6.8 billion two-year state budget proposal: ¡ Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development's 15-week Top Gun training program, which assisted more than 140 small businesses in 2016 ¡ Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, which spon- sors and facilitates innovative research and develop- ment projects involving food, pharmaceuticals and other products from sustainable aquatic systems ¡ Target Technology Center at the University of Maine in Orono, home of the UpStart incubator that provides coaching services and support to entrepreneurs in order to build competitive, market- oriented companies. The three programs stand to lose $178,838 in 2018–19 funding within the Department of Economic and Community Development. Historically, the funding had been shared equally by the three parties. "I think those are programs that it makes sense for MTI to run," Grohman said. MTI President Brian Whitney agrees, noting that his board had already authorized at its April meeting spend- ing $179,000 in continued support for the programs. "MTI's statutory mandate is pretty broad and fl ex- ible," Whitney told Mainebiz, providing, as he noted in his written testimony supporting Grohman's bill, "ample bandwidth to create programs as the board deems necessary to 'encourage, promote, stimulate and support'" R&D in Maine and the commercializa- tion of new technologies and products. P O L I T I C S & C O.

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