The DRTC provides businesses with facilities and training to expand their operations, with the ultimate goal of building them to the point that they can operate independently, according to the DRTC's web site. The expansion will allow the center to provide space for more companies, according to Gregg Fairbrothers '76, chair of the DRTC.
The proposal depends on the success of several grant applications, including a $5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Fairbrothers said.
Much of the Commerce Department funding the "core grant" that will allow the project to go forward would be derived from February's federal stimulus package, Fairbrothers said. Fairbrothers expects the department to decide whether or not to fund the expansion in the near future, he said, although he could not provide an exact date because discussions are ongoing.
The DRTC has also submitted requests for two $500,000 grants through the state of New Hampshire, according to Fairbrothers. Unlike the Commerce Department funding, the state grants are intended for community development and require developers to create a certain number of jobs at specific income levels, he said.
"The Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration grant it's a much more conventional grant and it does not have those kinds of restrictions," Fairbrothers said. "The goal is that you develop businesses to create jobs, but they aren't tying it to quantitative measurements around job creation."
Any funds received from the grants will be added to funding that DRTC's has already secured for the expansion, Fairbrothers said.
The planned two-story expansion would create more space for businesses to move in and take advantage of the center's resources, but Fairbrothers said no decisions have been made with regard to what businesses would fill the space or whether any special facilities will be needed in the new building.
Despite the center's seeming connections to the College, Fairbrothers said the DRTC is not a college enterprise, but is rather a separate non-profit entity. The College has, however, licensed its name to the center and manages the business training provided for tenants such as developing business plans and locating funding sources through the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network.
Fairbrothers is also the director of the DEN, which is itself administered through the College office of the Provost and the Tuck School of Business. The North Country Council and Grafton County Economic Development Council own the physical plant and land that the center occupies, according to the center's web site. The NCC and GCEDC also handle marketing, report on grants administered to tenants and relocate tenants as they move on from the center, according to Fairbrothers.
All of the center's current tenants are Dartmouth professors or otherwise affiliated with the College, he said, despite the College's limited influence in the center's operations.
One of the DRTC's current tenants is Lebanon, N.H.-based Mascoma Corporation. The company was founded by two Dartmouth professors to develop a commercially viable method of producing ethanol for fuel.
Mascoma will soon be moving its operations to an independent facility in Lebanon because of space constraints, the company announced in April.
Some of the businesses that have applied for, but not yet received, space in the DRTC are local startups, Fairbrothers said, adding that he hopes to see the presence of local companies increase.
"We'd like to have more from the community at large and from maybe even out of state, using the DRTC as a recruitment tool," he said. "But, that hasn't materialized to date."
The NCC and GCEDC did not respond to requests for comment.
