New incubator to help ag-related tech startups

In a few weeks, a $2 million technology center designed to help take university research to the commercial market will open its doors in Brookings.

The Agriculture Technology Center for Rural Enterprise already has its first tenant, Prairie AquaTech, an aquaculture firm that uses South Dakota State University research to develop a soybean-based food for fish farms. The 30,000-square-foot building in the Telkamp Industrial Park on the east side of Brookings is designed to help the city become a hub for both research and economic development, according to partners in the project.

"The idea behind the center is that it would be used to scale up different technologies. It's really an incubation center," said Al Heuton, executive director of the Brookings Economic Development Corporation. "We've had the research, but it's nice to see the business be developed here."

The new technology center was built using grants and loans from government agencies and private business, including South Dakota Innovation Partners, a Sioux Falls-based venture capital firm that focuses on commercializing research. CEO Mark Luecke, who is also CEO of Prairie AquaTech, said the center will fill a need for companies that want to take research and test it out to see if it is commercially viable.

Before a new technology or process can be done on the industrial level, new tech companies need to have the space and time to do larger trials to fine-tune processes and find out more about the cost of production, Luecke said. His venture capital firm has been seeking out companies that use the agricultural materials that South Dakota already produces and pair it with new ideas.

"What we wanted to do was to take that research and actually take the production to the rural communities," Luecke said. "We want to be that source of the research and have space to scale it up."

Prairie AquaTech is renting space in four locations in Brookings and will take the entire space available in the new technology center. The fledgling company is using research from SDSU scientists, testing on a larger scale a new soybean-based product that is being fed to tanks of South Dakota yellow perch.

The technology being developed could be used to create a new industry in the state: fish farming. The company also is testing a more digestible soybean concentrate that could be used in feed for swine, cattle and other local livestock, Luecke said.

When Prairie AquaTech moves out of the center, the space will be available for other technology startups. The next new company also might come out of the university research community, community leaders said.

"Prairie AquaTech will be the first company out there, but it won't be the last," said William Aylor, head of the SDSU Technology Transfer Office.

Aylor, who helps the university and researchers evaluate commercial potential and take the necessary steps to commercialize that research, said there are seven companies that are actively marketing SDSU technology.

The center helps prevent the "brain drain" of tech jobs out of state, Aylor said. Having the ability to test the commercial potential of research without leaving the state likely will lead to even more technology transfer of those ideas, he said.

"We have the ability to go from the bench top to the pilot scale and, if it's successful, to the industrial scale right here," Aylor said. "This really gives us an opportunity to take our technology to an even larger field than most schools our size can."

Heuton said the active research community in Brookings makes the town stand apart from others. Partners such as the Enterprise Institute, Dakota Resources, SDSU and the Small Business Development Center saw the new building as a good investment, he said.

Brookings development officials will work to identify other types of businesses that could be located at the center after Prairie AquaTech moves out. The company has signed a three-year lease but will have the option to renew it if needed.

"We'll be looking at how to spin out those companies and opportunities into the surrounding community," Heuton said. "We're very excited to see this open."