LOUISVILLE — People who come up with out-of-this-world innovations frequently have a hard time putting their ideas into words, much less into reality.
They bring their widgets and dreams to Scott Tibbitts, executive director of the eSpace Center for Space Entrepreneurship and say, “This is really cool.”
Yes, it’s cool, Tibbitts said he agrees, but then he asks the tough question: “So what are you going to do with it?”
That’s where space innovators get stuck and where the space-business incubator can help, whether it’s leasing pricey equipment to test hardware, creating a business plan or securing funding.
Since the launch of the eSpace Center on Jan. 26, there has been “an influx of interested companies, and not just from Colorado,” said director Diane Dimeff.
The first eSpace Center company — Special Aerospace Services, which offers ground, launch and space-system engineering services — has just been signed, and four more are close, Tibbitts said.
Through eSpace, the company has gotten office and manufacturing space. Most valuable, said co-owner Heather Bulk, “is an introduction to the market, which is exceedingly difficult in this industry.”
“We have a group of 14 extremely senior engineers who have a ton of contacts, but even still it takes that added oomph of eSpace to make it happen,” Bulk added.
The eSpace Center is a nonprofit organization that fosters space businesses and technologies through a collaboration with SpaceDev Inc., which develops new technologies, and the University of Colorado. The Metro Denver WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) Initiative provided funding help.
SpaceDev provides space for the center, and CU students get to do hands-on work.
“Most of our graduates go on to work in industry, and we want to be part of creating industry as well,” said CU aerospace engineering chairman Jeff Forbes.
The eSpace Center is the second space-business incubator to open in Colorado since November. It joined the 8th Continent, based at the Colorado School of Mines, as the country’s only space incubators, in large part due to the state’s robust academic, research and industry activities in aerospace.
Recognizing the impact, the Colorado Office of Economic Development has given $150,000 grants to both eSpace Center and 8th Continent to get them off the ground.
Tibbitts and Dimeff envision a new high-tech corridor, one that stretches from Boulder 450 miles south to Albuquerque, that is the nation’s center for space entrepreneurialism.
“If what we’re doing works,” Tibbitts said, “that’s what it will be known for.”
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
Aerospace impact in Colorado
More than 171,000 employed in space-related jobs
27.4% Growth in space employment, 2002-07
3rd State’s ranking in total private aerospace employment
$4 billion Annual revenue from the state’s aerospace and satellite companies
Source: Colorado Office of Economic Development
