Arrowhead Center Technology

Incubator looking for clients

New Mexico’s newest accredited business hub wants to help

Growing a small business is tough. Why not get some help? New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Technology Incubator specializes in helping small, technologybased businesses get off the ground and it is looking for clients.

“We have demonstrable success in securing funding to assist startups and setting up partnerships between them and larger, more established companies,” said Chris Kientz, Arrowhead Center’s director of technology innovation.

The New Mexico Economic DevelopmentDepartment certified the Arrowhead Technology Incubator as the state’s sixth official business incubator earlier this month. It is the only certified incubator in southern New Mexico.

“The certification is part of a very detailed examination of our program and facilities,” said Dawn Hommer, incubation specialist for Arrowhead Center. “The certification helps us work together with other incubators around the state, lending one another advice and expertise. It also allows us to apply for state funding to grow our program.”

She said the incubator is actively seeking technology entrepreneurs at any stage of the development process and is interested in working with anyone in the region, including southern New Mexico and El Paso.

Particularly, the incubator is looking for companies specializing in energy andnatural resources, aerospace and commercial space, biosciences, digital media and national security.

Kientz said a study by the National Business Incubation Association shows more than 80 percent of businesses fail in the first five years. The same study, however, said using a small business incubator turns those numbers completely around, with 87 percent of businesses still in operation after five years.

Hommer said businesses benefit because the incubator is part of NMSU and provides access to faculty researchers as well asstudents. Unique for the Arrowhead Technology Incubator is that it also works with other groups inside NMSU’s Arrowhead Center that help at all stagesof business. “If you are in the early start up stage, Arrowhead’s entrepreneurship group can help,” Kientz said. “Then, once you are off the ground, you can literally walk to the next building and we can help you here at the incubator.”

He said when businesses outgrow the incubator, they are more than welcome to look at space in NMSU’s 257-acre Arrowhead Business and Research Park, designed for more established companies.

To find out more information about NMSU’s Arrowhead Center and the Arrowhead Technology Incubator, visit http://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu or call646-1434.

We have demonstrable success in securing funding to assist startups ...

CHRIS KIENTZ, director of technology innovation, Arrowhead Center