University of Montana could match grant to Missoula tech company- Rivertop Renewables – Could convert MonTEC incubator to Clean Tech focus

In a nondescript building just across the pedestrian bridge from The University of Montana, infant technology startup companies struggle to make the leap from laboratory to market.

One of those fledgling enterprises is garnering attention, praise and the promise of $1.75 million from Main Hall.

By Heidi Groover

The Montana Technology Enterprise Center http://www.maedc.org/montec , MonTEC, is 50 percent owned by UM and houses 17 startup technology companies, according to its website. Many of those companies were born in the labs and classrooms of UM and use MonTEC as an "incubator" to expand and market their ideas.

Rivertop Renewables http://www.rivertop.com/ , a local green chemistry company headquartered at MonTEC, leases patents from UM for the development of eco-friendly chemicals that could replace harmful petroleum-based phosphates currently used in laundry and dish detergents.

"Phosphates were really good at what they did. They kept your glasses from getting spotty," said Jason Kiely, vice president of marketing for Rivertop Renewables. "The industry hasn’t found good replacement yet. We think we’re going to be that good replacement."

While the technology to create glucaric acid – the good replacement – has long been known, scientists in a UM lab discovered a way to make the chemical inexpensively and on a large scale in 1997. Today, 13 Rivertop employees are further developing that technology at MonTEC, where Rivertop Renewables currently occupies about half of the 32,000-square-foot building on East Broadway Avenue.

Since UM sold the land to MonTEC in 2001, the university has not contributed financially to the company, said Bob Duringer, vice president for administration and finance.

That could change soon.

Earlier this year, MonTEC applied for a $1.75 million grant from the economic development administration, which requires a matching donor. Last week the state Board of Regents, which oversees all higher education in Montana, voted to allow UM to contribute $1.75 million to MonTEC if the company receives the grant.

While Kiely said he and his colleagues are being cautious not to assume MonTEC will receive the grant, more funding would allow for important renovations to the facility. Plans include updates to lab space and a 1,000-square-foot addition to the building’s current office space.

While the renovations would mostly benefit Rivertop Renewables, the company’s main tenant, updating the space is crucial for all of the startups that call MonTEC home, said Joe Fanguy, director of technology transfer at UM and a MonTEC board member.

"It gives [a] place of opportunity for people that have new ideas and the potential to start new companies," he said. "It’s a place to grow initially before they step out on their own."

Technology startups come and go, but occasionally one with the ability to make it big, like Rivertop Renewables, comes along, Fanguy said.

Kiely, whose father was a professor in UM’s chemistry department and the founder of Rivertop Renewables, said the company has big plans beyond expanding at MonTEC.

Scientists at the company plan to continue developing compounds that can replace petroleum-based chemicals. The ultimate goal, Kiely said, is to build a global company that provides eco-friendly chemicals to the world’s largest soap and detergent companies, like Procter and Gamble, which owns Tide.

"Too often we hear the argument that it’s either jobs or the environment, but that’s a false construct," Kiely said. "In this case it’s a double win. It’s good for shareholders and for employees who put their blood, sweat and tears into a business like this, and it’s good for society."

"We think we’ve struck [a] magic balance of being able to have both."

When the Board of Regents approved UM’s request to match the grant last week, President Royce Engstrom called MonTEC a "great example of moving ideas from the University to the private sector."

Kiely said staff at Rivertop and MonTEC hope to find out whether MonTEC will receive the grant by the end of December.

[email protected]

http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/um-could-match-grant-to-local-tech-company-1.1816216