The Lawrence Regional Technology Center is assisting three new companies hoping to capitalize on research conducted at Kansas University.

The state-sponsored commercialization center, designed to help high-tech startup companies become viable businesses, quietly has changed its name from the Kansas Innovation Corp. in an attempt to shed negative perceptions.

“It was one of those things where the former management team didn’t necessarily perform up to the expectations of all the partners,” said Matt McClorey, the center’s president and chief executive officer. “We felt like we needed to rebuild the trust and confidence of everyone. We decided we should have a new name to reflect a new vision.”

Part of that vision, McClorey said, is to begin working with more fledgling, high-tech firms. When McClorey took over from Jeff Alholm in June, the organization was working with one company, CritiTech, a Kansas University spin-off firm developing processes for reducing the size of particles in pharmaceuticals.

New clients

The center has kept CritiTech as a client and recently added three Lawrence-based startup companies that also are trying to capitalize on research conducted at KU. They are:

l Admunex Therapeutics Inc. The company, 3514 Clinton Pkwy., is using research conducted at KU’s Higuchi Biosciences Center to develop new technologies to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis and certain types of arthritis.

“If the technology is successful, they basically will be able to stop the progression of the disease so that it won’t get any worse,” McClorey said.

The center is helping the company develop a business plan and to raise venture capital. With the center’s help, Admunex last week won tentative approval from the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. for $100,000 in funding from the state’s Applied Research Matching Fund program. The company will match the state funding with $150,000 in private money to continue research and development of the technology.

l BioComp Systems Inc. The company, 4830 W. 15th St., is using research conducted by KU’s electrical engineering and computer science department to develop a new generation, three-dimensional technology system. The system would allow people to view computer-generated, three-dimensional images without wearing special goggles or glasses, which cause dizziness and headaches for some users.

The system, which likely won’t be ready for market until 2004, could have a wide variety of uses, McClorey said. Company officials are studying the feasibility of using it for medical systems, such as X-ray machines that would allow doctors to view tumors in 3-D, video games and the oil and gas industry, which could use the technology to better study underground reserves.

l Flint Hills Scientific L.L.C. The firm, 5020 W. 15th St., is working with research done at Kansas University Medical Center on algorithms that can be used to predict when an epileptic seizure will strike a patient. The company is co-developing a device with an unidentified Fortune 500 company that would detect and prevent the onset of epileptic seizures.

Searching for space

McClorey said he also was continuing to work on ideas to create a business incubator facility to house startup companies that need access to below-market rate laboratory or office space. During the mid-’90s the Lawrence City Commission and Douglas County Commission gave KIC about $500,000 in funding to create a business incubator. That project, however, never materialized and the money has been sitting unused in an interest-bearing account of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

McClorey said he hoped officials from the city, county, chamber, KU and the center would be able to decide on how to start an incubator facility within the next two months.

“I think now it is just a matter of whether we want to jump right in and build a new building or do something more conservative and build it up over time,” McClorey said.

He’s hoping for a new incubator with 10,000 to 15,000 square feet, which would more than triple the size of the center’s existing offices at 1617 St. Andrews Drive.

McClorey said it was likely the $500,000 set aside for the project would not be enough to get the incubator started. He said he hadn’t ruled out seeking more public funding but would hope to tap private sources as well.