Published: January 31, 2008 02:12 pm    PrintThis  

Technically speaking: Venture Forum more than a networking opportunity

LAWRENCE — Most people would say it's a great way to do business.

A cocktail in one hand, an hors' d'oeuvre in the other and a pocket full of business cards to hand out as you work the room.

Since 2002, the Merrimack Valley Venture Forum has been organizing such mixers with an eye toward expanding the region's technical economy.

Last week, the group celebrated its fifth anniversary with a networking event and party at Salvatore's Restaurant on Merrimack Street in Lawrence.

"Five years ago we started this because a bunch of businesspeople in the area found that there was no place to network for technology companies," said Dennis Warren, one of the original founders of the nonprofit group based in UMass Lowell's Wannalancit Mill. "When we opened the doors, we got people from all over New England."

Warren said 50 percent of the organization's members come from Massachusetts, 40 percent from New Hampshire and the rest from Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The reason for the popularity, he said, is that while there are similar forums in Cambridge and Worcester, nothing like it existed north of Boston and into southern New Hampshire.

Generally, such groups are affiliated with technical or engineering colleges. In Cambridge, the MIT Enterprise Forum is a link between high-tech entrepreneurs and the college's students and faculty. It has 24 chapters worldwide and has been around for 30 years.

The Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Venture Forum does the same for inventors and high-tech start-ups around that college. It's been in business for about eight years.

The Merrimack Valley group is modeled after those, working closely with UMass Lowell.

"I love it," said Kathy Carter, dean of the UMass Lowell College of Management. "It builds relationships between the college, faculty and industry."

Some students intern with the group, and some alumni who have gone into business for themselves also take part in the activities, including monthly forums on a variety of subjects, like nanotechnology, medical devices and entrepreneurship.

"It's largely a networking organization," she said. "It's done a wonderful job."

Bob Tamarin, dean of the Division of Sciences at UMass Lowell, said the forum does even more than that.

In many cases, he noted, the businesspeople helped by the forum are college professors.

"We have some very entrepreneurial faculty," he said. "We're looking for our Gatorade."

Gatorade was developed in the 1960s by a team of doctors at the University of Florida who were trying to find a way to keep the football team hydrated while practicing and playing in the 100-degree heat of south Florida. The proceeds from the sale of the wildly popular sports drink continue to help support the University of Florida to this day, earning the college tens of millions of dollars.

Many colleges and universities, Tamarin said, are trying to develop products that not only advance science, but bring a return to the college and faculty members involved in creating them. He said state funding cutbacks have forced colleges and universities to be creative in coming up with alternative sources of income, which includes inventing products that can be sold on the open market, much like Gatorade.

The Venture Forum, he said, helps faculty members with intellectual property get together with people in the industry who can bring those products to life.

"We try to develop intellectual property while also creating products that bring us money," he said.

He noted it's a win-win for everyone, in that a product developed on campus brings money to the college and the professors involved in creating it, while also helping the local economy if it is manufactured in the region.

For many people at last week's event, however, it was just an opportunity to meet others who can help them grow their businesses.

Lisa Fitzpatrick of Kifor Development of Haverhill attended because she's looking for tenants for her office building on Essex Street.

"We are looking for entrepreneurs and high-tech businesses," she said. "This is a great networking and marketing opportunity."

Kate McDonough said the Venture Forum had already helped her with her business — a virtual office that provides answering and other office services for people whose companies are run out of their homes or laptops.

Soon after starting her business, she joined the Venture Forum and began picking up clients.

"I made phenomenal contacts," she said. "Now we're the largest virtual office provider in the region," with 125 clients ranging from lawyers to lobbyists, and beyond.

Founder Jim Bleck said the organization has been a success, and will continue to grow because "top-flight people" have "stepped up to make it happen."

"We're going to be a fixture in the Merrimack Valley for a long time," Bleck said. "We are part of the economic engine — a catalyst to get things done."