by Manny Frishberg
April 2009
Seattle Business Magazine

In the Incredible Shrinking Economy, the competition among cities for new business development has reached a fever pitch. Communities of every size are outbidding each other with tax incentives and infrastructure projects to attract new enterprises to their locales.

“There are thousands of U.S. economic development organizations,” says Linda Rotmark, executive director of the Clallam County Economic Development Council in Port Angeles, a picturesque Olympic Peninsula community that has limited highway capacity and no rail link. “We have 999 competitors vying for that business, and I don’t like the odds.” Instead, Rotmark chooses what she calls “economic gardening,” or nurturing home-grown entrepreneurs.

Clallam County already had one of 11 Innovation Partnership Zones in Washington and was in line for a share of $5 million in capital grants from the state’s Community, Trade and Economic Development office to stimulate growth of industry clusters and promote job growth.

But Rotmark says the loans received through the program can only be applied to a joint venture between the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the local community college to develop marine, biotech and coastal assessment and restoration projects.

“What could we do for all the other people that are trying to invent things like the next best apple peeler and the next best survival suit,” asks Rotmark. She found her answer in a program to identify and nurture new businesses from within the community being supported by Washington Manufacturing Services (WMS), an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce. WMS was established to counter the trend toward manufacturing businesses moving offshore; instead, it helps create and grow hundreds of new manufacturing opportunities here.

Tapping into an existing network of local inventors, Rotmark worked with WMS to recruit about 17 promising entrepreneurs, including Bob Duncan, the inventor of a new kind of cold-water survival gear, and Lynn Langford, a woman in her 70s who developed a disposable funnel that makes it possible for women to urinate standing up. The entrepreneurs were put through a five-step process, which includes a class on how to communicate the benefits of their product and a computer analysis of the idea using a proprietary software tool that scores its commercial viability. WMS President John Vicklund says ideas that the software, called Merwyn, score high have an 88 percent chance of succeeding in the marketplace, far above the average for new businesses in general.

Four of five entrepreneurs in the original group continue to make progress. Two are looking for manufacturers to buy their inventions or with whom to form production partnerships. For example, Langford says that REI has shown an interest in her disposable funnel. She adds that she has spoken with an aide to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray about bringing the device to military procurement officers at the Pentagon, who are interested in supplying them to female soldiers in the field.

“There’re a lot of good reasons for doing this work,” says Rotmark. Entrepreneurs have proven “somewhat recession proof,” she explains, because they see economic adversity as an opportunity to try something new. “Part of it,” she adds, “is that we just have a lot of allegiance to people that live here and want to live here and want to grow a business.”

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January 30, 2009
Puget Sound Business Journal – by John Vicklund and Rep. Maralyn Chase

Washington state is home to some of the greatest innovative minds in the country. We have been recognized as such by the Kauffman Foundation, a private nonpartisan research group, which named us as one of the top five states for innovation. That same foundation that also noted that Washington holds the second most patents per capita.

We shouldn’t be surprised by these facts. Instead we should recognize them as an opportunity to “innovate” ourselves out of the current downward economic spiral. The Legislature is currently considering one way to do that, and they need to move ahead with it.

The process for aiding innovation is a new program called “Washington Grows.” Developed in partnership with Impact Washington and economic development leaders in Clallam County, Washington Grows is a new model for economic “gardening” that takes the natural talent and ideas in our own backyard and turns them into viable commercial opportunities.

For too long Washington has borne the stigma of being the state with the most business startups — and the most business failures. Good ideas are in no short supply here. What has been missing is a proven method for vetting those ideas and then connecting the entrepreneur or small business that owns them with a network of dedicated business professionals who can shepherd them toward commercialization. Washington Grows does just that.

Originally developed in answer to the need for top-line growth with our state’s 7400 manufacturers, Washington Grows was created to assist companies identify new “in-house” products and services. It has now evolved to include ideas not only from existing businesses, but from entrepreneurs and inventors as well. Using a nationally tested business analysis system, ideas are scored, strengths and weaknesses evaluated in terms of their revenue-producing viability, and then translated into a road map that entrepreneurs can use to develop their ideas. Success is enhanced because the road map connects them with professionals who can assist them along the way.

Whether it’s patent protection, market research, business plan development, financing or any other of the many steps businesses require on the road to success, Washington Grows can get them there.

It’s already happening. And in parts of our state that may come as a surprise.

Clallam Economic Development Council hosted the first test of Washington Grows in the summer of 2008. Eighteen entrepreneurs took part in the program, and today there are five ideas that are well on their way to commercialization. One is a biodegradable paper funnel called the Uraid that allows women to urinate while standing. Invented by a 72-year-old great grandmother in Port Angeles, this device has already caught the attention of Sen. Patty Murray, who would like to see six million of them made for our female soldiers overseas.

Another inventor from Port Angeles set a world record with his survival suit, which keeps the human body warm in freezing waters for 25 hours. Today’s survival suits worn by many fishermen in Alaska and off our coast maintain heat for three to five hours. This suit is currently in prototype development. It’s not only on track to become a commercial success, but also undoubtedly will end up saving lives.

Shoreline Chamber of Commerce, Shoreline Community College and the city of Shoreline are working together to bring Washington Grows to their community so that the investors, entrepreneurs and small businesses in the 32nd Legislative District have a place to bring their ideas and realize their dreams. And there are a dozen more economic development organizations across the state that are eager to start this program in their areas today.

Conservative estimates show that with an annual investment of $1 million through IMPACT WASHINGTON over the next 10 years, Washington Grows will enable our state to create $2.84 billion in new revenue, more than 21,000 new good-paying jobs and more than $270 million in additional tax revenue.

Fifty-three percent of all new jobs are created by small business. Washington Grows is a grassroots complement to the existing research and development capability at institutions like Battelle, PNNL, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Washington Technology Center and SIRTI. It represents an opportunity for our state to support and cultivate homegrown entrepreneurs and small businesses and build new opportunities for our future.

We must remember this country was built not on the backs of the government, but instead on the courage and ingenuity of its citizens. We urge the Legislature to support that courage and ingenuity with programs like Washington Grows.

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Download the article here: Lean Healthcare – by Donna Weinstock