Boston University’s Business Innovation Center (BIC) has been around since 2005. But since Rana Gupta became managing director of the center in February, he’s been working on a plan to lead it into its next era.
“(The BIC) is a business innovation center, so it houses and licenses space to individual tenants. But I’d say the BIC is now in need of a plan,” said Gupta, who is also the university’s director of faculty entrepreneurship.
Gupta has his sights set on building an innovation ecosystem at the BIC that combines early-stage startups looking for space and support to grow and industry experts who want to bolster the next generation of innovators. One of the first steps toward creating this environment was welcoming in FLEXcon, a manufacturer of coated and laminated films and adhesives.
The Spencer-based company helps engineers and designers bring their concepts to life for the transportation, electronics, industrial, healthcare, construction and energy industries. FLEXcon has operations throughout North America and Europe.
In November, Bill Sullivan, who manages FLEXcon’s business and technology discovery division, brought the company into the BIC. Sullivan said his team works with startup companies to increase the manufacturing readiness of their technology.
“If we can’t because their technology doesn’t necessarily fit our capabilities, then we have a wide variety of people to help them understand sales and marketing, maybe helping them understand some contacts in the field where they could get their product made,” Sullivan said.
Gupta said this is the type of support that earlier-stage companies in the BIC could benefit from.
“Everybody here is working on a product to bring to market. Then you bring in a service provider like FLEXcon, and all of a sudden you’re beginning to form an ecosystem,” Gupta said. “Because then Bill can help these people, all of them, with their notion of commercialization. So that’s an example of what direction we are going to take this thing.”
This is FLEXcon’s third office space at a university, after Wichita State University and UMass Lowell. The company’s cubicle space at Boston University is within the BIC, a 15,000-square-foot facility on the sixth floor of the Photonics Center. The BIC currently houses about 17 companies and offers office and lab space. Current tenants include Analog Devices, Leuko Labs and Thorlabs.
Gupta said the BIC is very flexible with accommodating different companies, whether they need a single desk or lab bench, or a larger space to accommodate a growing team.
Other more mature companies at the BIC, such as Analog Devices and Thorlabs, have sponsorships with research faculty, Gupta said. These companies also bring their knowledge and resources to the younger companies at the BIC, especially during Thirsty Third Thursdays each month when all the companies gather.
In addition to mentoring startups, one of Sullivan’s main goals at the BIC is to raise awareness about manufacturing in Massachusetts.
“I can tell you 10 examples of projects we worked on to bring them to a high manufacturing readiness level, and they went out of state to have it made,” Sullivan said. “So they went to New York or they went to California, but they didn’t stay in Massachusetts. And you find that a lot.”
Sullivan and Gupta agreed that the capabilities are here, but manufacturers don’t do a good job letting companies know about the in-state opportunities.
“There’s a big focus on raising money. But operations is truly the last part of those business plans, or not even part of those business plans, because most people don’t understand operations,” Gupta added. “So having FLEXcon here to help them understand what does manufacturing readiness level mean, and how do you mature your MRL, that’s gold for companies.”
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