High hopes for high tech-New organization hopes to establish technology corridor in southeast Idaho

POCATELLO — If southeast Idaho does evolve into a second Silicon Valley as many local leaders are hoping, Laurence Gebhardt will be a factor.

By John O’Connell — Journal Writer

Gebhardt, 60, started Nov. 1 as the director of TechConnect East, a new regional science and technology office in Pocatello designed to help high-tech businesses flourish in a technology corridor from here to Rexburg.

Gebhardt is the sole worker in the new office, based in the Business and Technology Center on Alvin Ricken Drive.

“My role is to help them get the resources they need to grow and build their companies,” Gebhardt said. “I think we have people here with really good ideas, but they just need help to take their idea and see if it makes sense.”

TechConnect East is funded with $15,000 from the Idaho Department of Commerce and $150,000 from the Eastern Idaho Community Reuse Organization. Congress created CROs in 1993 to diversify economies where Department of Energy laboratories are located in preparation for post-Cold
Bannock Paving employees work on the landscaping for the new AMIS technology building being built on Alvin Ricken Drive Monday afternoon.
War downsizing.

Gebhardt said the majority of the companies he will serve are spinoffs of The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and high-tech programs at Idaho State University, including the university’s Idaho Accelerator Center.

His goal is to identify 30 growing technology companies to assist during the next two months. He will assist new companies in developing business strategies, finding students and others to help with research, assisting in grant writing and connecting them with commercial banks, venture capitalists and officials from companies with similar interests.

He said he will also work with universities to adapt their curriculum to meet needs of businesses in the corridor.

“I’ve had conversations with eight different companies that are growing here, and all of them have identified services I can provide to them,” Gebhardt said.

Gebhardt said he will also work with local economic development organizations to attract new businesses. He is currently seeking retired engineers and people with science backgrounds to give advice to young officials from new companies.

Todd Hong, program manager of the Eastern Idaho CRO, said his organization secured a grant from the DOE worker’s transition division to start the new program.

“The intent is as each business begins and expands, they are going to create job opportunities,” Hong said. “It’s going to have an impact on the economy in eastern Idaho.”

Mark Snider, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s press secretary, said the new office was created as part of the governor’s Science and Technology Strategy for Idaho. Similar offices will be created to assist technology-based businesses in Boise and northern Idaho.

Snider said TechConnect East will “attract and recruit companies but play a big role in retention.”

Snider said Kempthorne selected Pocatello for the first technology office because of the existing high-tech infrastructure.

“When you look at the assets of Pocatello with AMI Semiconductor, the accelerator that ISU operates as well as the ISU Incubation Center, there are tremendous resources in place,” Snider said. “The potential is there certainly to make Pocatello a hub, but we have so many options throughout that entire I-15 corridor the state turns out a winner either way.”

As Pocatello attracts more high-tech jobs, Snider said it will gradually become easier to bring in others because high-tech businesses prefer clustering together. Snider believes the low crime rate, affordable cost of living, scenic beauty and availability of outdoor activities in the area will attract businesses.

He said eastern Idaho is evolving away from a “smokestack” economy.

“Companies now realize they don’t have to be in the San Francisco Bay area where land costs are exorbitant, where employees can’t afford to live anywhere near work,” Snider said. “You obviously need to play to your strengths. The strength in that I-15 corridor is the brain power that exists in the companies and university’s in eastern Idaho and a very educated, motivated work force.”

After a 26-year Navy career, Gebhardt took a job helping a shipyard which made nuclear submarines during the Cold War convert to manufacturing commercial vessels.

He and his wife Janie moved to Pocatello to be closer to their elderly parents.

Gebhardt has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Utah, a Master of Arts degree in adult education from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D in human and organization systems, with a focus on business administration and manufacturing technologies from Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Six main goals of the new TechConnect East office

1. Build a highly skilled technical work force.

2. Develop collaboration between industry and universities.

3. Commercialize technology developed in Idaho.

4. Build an entrepreneurial culture and new firms.

5. Invest in infrastructure for a technology-based economy.

6. Establish an international image for Idaho as a leading technology center.

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