Hal Calhoun, a managing director at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Tech in 1993.

"I would have liked to have stayed in Atlanta, but at that time, there were very limited choices for jobs in the high-tech community," Calhoun says.

Today it's a different story. Atlanta's technology base is beginning to take off. "Georgia Tech is playing a big role in that," says Calhoun, referring to the Institute's efforts to stimulate technology transfer and entrepreneurial activity.

GTronix, launched in 2002, is a perfect example.

GTronix is commercializing an analog semiconductor technology developed in Paul Hasler's lab at Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The company's technology platform can provide enhanced functionality for wireless devices while dramatically reducing power consumption.

In July, GTronix closed on a significant round of seed funding from Menlo, which has $2.7 billion under management but doesn't often invest in such young companies. "Granted, we fund companies at all stages of maturity, but this is as early as it gets," Calhoun says.

Yet GTronix's strong market potential - lowering power consumption by orders of magnitude - helps offset the risk inherent in an early-stage company, he says.

GTronix is the product of VentureLab, one of Georgia Tech's newest tactics for advancing technology commercialization. A unit within the Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures, VentureLab helps faculty and students create high-growth companies from innovations developed through Tech's $375 million research program.

"We have one foot in academia and one foot in the marketplace," says Steve Derezinski, VentureLab's director. "We meet with faculty and graduate students on a regular basis so they understand what's required to form a company. And we look at the marketplace to determine if there's real potential for the technology."

In another key service, VentureLab matches faculty members with experienced entrepreneurs and managers who can drive the commercialization process forward. In some cases, these VentureLab fellows may become a company's first chief executive.

Professional management makes a big difference in a company's growth, says Madhavan Swaminathan, a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Swaminathan and four other researchers in Tech's Microsystems Packaging Research Center are commercializing an integration technology for radio frequency passive components used in wireless telecommunications products. With help from VentureLab, they formed Jacket Micro Devices in 2002.

VentureLab grants helped JMD prove its concept by building prototypes to test and qualify the technology. Yet the startup gained real momentum when VentureLab fellow Jim Stratigos, EE 74, MS EE 80, joined JMD as its chief executive in February.

JMD is now a member of Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center, a sister entity under EDTV that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. In fact, ATDC originated the VentureLab concept in 2001, recognizing that faculty needed a special support mechanism for commercialization.

In addition to GTronix and JMD, two other VentureLab startups - Stheno Corp. and Orthonics Inc. - closed on institutional funding this summer. Together, the four companies received more than $6 million in venture capital.

Beyond VentureLab, EDTV has been working on other initiatives to strengthen Georgia's entrepreneurial environment. ATDC opened a satellite operation in Warner Robins in 1991, followed by offices in Savannah in 2002 and Columbus in 2003.

In August 2003, ATDC moved its headquarters to Technology Square, Georgia Tech's new multibuilding complex in Midtown. This change of venue gives both the incubator and its member companies unprecedented visibility.

"By being in Technology Square, we're in a targeted area for exposure," says Bird Blitch, ISyE 97, co-founder of BroadSource, a provider of telecommunications management software. "Businesses revolve around people. Employees like working here, customers like coming by here."

BroadSource joined ATDC last summer and has been flourishing. It has strengthened its senior management team and closed on $5.7 million in funding. And though BroadSource did not emerge from VentureLab, "Georgia Tech has played a key role in who we are," Blitch says, noting that about half of BroadSource's employees and its entire management team are Tech alumni.

Technology Square improves the ability of ATDC members to interact. There are 18 startups on a single floor. The proximity sparks synergy in a variety of ways, from problem solving to psychological support.

In spring 2003, EDTV opened the ATDC Biosciences Center, a unique facility geared to provide special equipment and resources for bioscience startups. This satellite incubator is located in the Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building, a new research center that's part of Tech's Life Sciences and Technology Complex. Because it is housed in a major research building, the ATDC Biosciences Center breaks down physical barriers. Its location enables entrepreneurs and university faculty - individuals who are typically isolated from each other - to work together.

For example, Stheno Corp. is an ATDC company that is commercializing a chemical-detection technology to find impurities in pharmaceutical processing and production lines. Formed with VentureLab assistance, Stheno's technology was developed in Andreas Bommarius' and Rick Trebino's labs, and the two professors serve as Stheno's scientific advisers.

Stheno, admitted into ATDC this summer, came onto VentureLab's radar screen when Edens, who was completing a master's degree at Tech, won second place in a business plan competition sponsored by the College of Management.

In addition to winning a $30,000 service package, the award ticked off a chain of support. Stheno was accepted into the VentureLab program, which helped the startup secure a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation and prompted William Oakes, AE 59, one of the competition's judges, to become an early investor.

This summer ATDC received an Excellence in Economic Development award from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration.

"Although ATDC is recognized as a leader in incubator circles, the EDA award represented broader recognition that we're helping create high-paying technology jobs," says Tony Antoniades, ISyE 91, ATDC's general manager. "The award gives us more visibility on a national front and outside of incubator circles."

©2004 Georgia Tech Alumni Association