Ben Franklin Expands High Tech Incubator

Ben Franklin Technology Partners on Thursday dedicated a new 47,000-square foot addition that is hopes will enable the creation of as many as 200 new high paying tech jobs over the next three years, while retaining another 100.

R. Chadwick Paul Jr., president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, said the additional space will allow the technology company incubator to expand from its current 29 companies to 40 companies.

“We have a number of tenants who are looking to occupy this space,” Paul said.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners hasn’t chosen the new tenants yet, because the budding companies have to show that they have a solid business plan and ideas that could succeed.

If history is a predictor of the future, then the new space should fill quickly. When Ben Franklin opened TechVentures in 2007, they thought its 35,000 square feet of rentable space and 11,000 square feet of wet lab space would be enough for five years. The building was filled to capacity in 18 months, Paul said.

“Incubators provide the shortest time from start-up to launch,” said C. Alan Walker, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The current companies at TechVentures employee 158 people.

The new addition at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus cost $18 million to design and build. Ben Franklin received a $6 million grant funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act through the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration.

The technology industry covers a wide range of areas. Paul said that depending on the industry sector, beginning pay for entry-level jobs would range from $30,000 to $40,000 a year. These are positions that would require a college education. The highest paying jobs would pay upwards of $100,000, as the company matures in its sector, he said.

Since 1983, Ben Franklin and TechVentures have graduated 52 successful companies, who have provided 4,700 jobs and grossed more than $408 million in annual revenues, he said.

Among the successes in Bethlehem are OraSure Technologies Inc. in Bethlehem, Saladex Biomedical and CICLON Semiconductors.

OraSure created the first saliva-based test for HIV, and now employees 250 people, Paul said. Saladex developed a test to help doctors determine the correct dosage for medication based on a person’s metabolism.

CICLON created a product that prolongs the life of batteries in products like the iPad, Nook and Kindle, he said. They entered the incubator in 2005 with $150,000 of assistance from en Franklin Partners, and sold the company in 2007 for more than $24 million. CICLON is now called Texas Instruments of the Lehigh Valley, Paul said.

The incubator helps emerging companies to “keep the lights on,” Paul said. TechVentures provides office space, state-of-the-art conference rooms, dry laboratories for experiments and wet laboratories for chemical testing.

“We help you stay solvent until you can make a profit,” Paul said.