Companies contending with an aging workforce and looking for new ways to attract and retain a diverse workforce may one day turn to a tiny Boulder software company for help.
OptTek Systems Inc. is a developer of software that helps optimize problem-solving software. Most of its work centers on software that can simulate a specific business or financial problem, such as how to staff a hospital with the right number of doctors and nurses or, as in the case of its customer Halliburton, which oil and gas fields to explore to optimize investment.
However, with a Small Business Innovation Research grant of $450,000, 14-person OptTek is building a complete software application that can be applied to workplace issues.
Issues such as limited talent or an aging workforce “are changes companies are going to have to contend with,” said OptTek chief development officer Jay April. “So they can plan out much better how their workforce is going to evolve and better strategize how to meet their financial goals.”
The funding is the second phase of an SBIR grant offered in conjunction with the National Science Foundation. Chief executive Jim Kelly said the company saw a need for this kind of software after working on a similar project for the Navy. That project was also funded through an SBIR grant, Kelly said.
“Most of the work going on right now in HR departments is very piecemeal,” he said. “We’re looking at all these problems at once. Our approach is very holistic.”
Founded in 1992 by former University of Colorado at Boulder researchers, OptTek began using SBIR grants to help fund research and development a few years ago. Its new software, called OptForce, will be available for commercial sale by the end of the year.
National competition for such grant money is stiff, but Colorado companies fare well compared with other states, said Russ Farmer, executive director of SBIR Colorado. Companies in the state received $85 million from SBIR grants in 2005 and likely kept pace in 2006 and 2007. Colorado generally ranks fifth or sixth in funding per capita, Farmer said.
While startup companies traditionally look to these kinds of grants to bring a product to market, more established, profitable companies such as OptTek use them as “a means to fund new technology,” Farmer said.
Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com
