Montgomery to open pair of incubators this year

New facilities coming in Germantown, Rockville

And a fifth county incubator, also planned to be about 30,000 square feet, is expected to open at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus by the end of the year, said Jerry Godwin, a business development specialist for the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development.

LiveHealthier, a Rockville Internet-based health and wellness company, and Inteliguard Inc., a new U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom software company Advanced Filtering Technologies Ltd., are the first of more than 35 technology, international and medical-related companies expected to lease space in the Rockville center. The facility will cover two floors above a downtown arts complex.

LiveHealthier plans to move from the county’s largest and oldest incubator, the 60,000-square-foot Maryland Technology Development Center, to larger space in the new facility. Mary Moslander, founder and CEO, has built the startup to a 10-employee company and could hire as many as 10 more employees by year-end.

Being close to the Rockville Metro station will be a great benefit for new employees, Moslander said. ‘‘We will probably end up doubling our space,” she said.

LiveHealthier and Inteliguard ‘‘represent the type of young, innovative technology companies that Montgomery County, through our Business Incubator Network, works to nurture and grow into successful members of our business community,” County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said through a spokeswoman. ‘‘Ultimately their success is our success, and my administration is committed to ensuring the success of all businesses in the county.”

The county has worked on the new incubator with business groups such as Rockville Economic Development Inc. Inteliguard and LiveHealthier fit the international and health care focuses of the facility nicely as ‘‘smart growth companies realizing their employees would benefit from a downtown setting with easy Metro access,” said Sally Sternbach, executive director of the Rockville agency and a member of the center’s tenant review committee.

Incubators help fledgling companies grow by providing space, conference rooms, receptionists, mailrooms, consulting, seminars and other assistance more cheaply than the businesses could find on their own.

Moving from a home office to the Wheaton Business Innovation Center last November was the ‘‘best decision that I’ve made since I started my company,” said Laurent Guinand, president of GiraMondo Wine Ventures. The business provides wineries with consulting services and organizes seminars and wine tours.

‘‘Not only does it provide me with space to work and with conference rooms so I can meet clients, but it provides a great network of people,” said Guinand, who started the company part-time in 2004, then turned it to full-time last year after working as a banker, consultant and promoter of the French wine industry. ‘‘Other centers provide coaching and guidance.”

The advice has helped Guinand fine-tune his business plan. He works with contractors now and hopes to add some employees this year.

Being around like-minded entrepreneurs is one of the numerous benefits of incubators, said Alisa Scheiner, president of Loving Decisions, an elder care consulting business. The company was one of the first to move into the Wheaton incubator last year.

‘‘Regardless of the diversity of businesses, some issues are always the same,” she said.

Creating jobs

Incubators also help create local jobs. Since 1999, the Montgomery facilities, which also includes the 20,000-square-foot Silver Spring Innovation Center, have seen more than 30 companies graduate, employing some 1,100 people. Those companies now occupy about 500,000 square feet of commercial office space in the county, said Pradeep Ganguly, director of the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development.

‘‘We are very proud of this track record of success and look forward to continued success from our first two new Rockville Innovation Center tenants and those that will follow,” Ganguly said.

The 12,000-square-foot Wheaton incubator, the latest to open last June, filled up within six months and expects to soon add about 1,800 square feet in the same building, Godwin said.

‘‘That will give us room for four or five more companies,” Godwin said. ‘‘We have a prospect list, and some existing companies plan to expand.”

The Germantown center is planned as a partnership between the county and college, focusing on biotechnology and information technology companies. The incubator is part of Montgomery College’s expansion at the Germantown campus that is also expected to house a life sciences business park and bioscience education center.

Two other incubators are on the drawing board — one near the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus and another around Route 29, Godwin said.

The Montgomery County campus of Johns Hopkins University in Rockville hopes to eventually house a second-stage business incubator.

This report originally appeared in The Business Gazette.

Incubatingbusinesses

Number of business incubators, North America, 2006: 1,400, including at least 16 in Maryland.

Number of business incubators, North America, 1980: 12.

Companies still in business five years later: 87 percent.

Percentage of non-incubated company startups in business five years later: 20 percent.

Source: National Business Incubation Association

Rockville incubator

Business owners interested in applying for space in the 25,000-square-foot downtown Rockville incubator must submit a business plan, including the potential for local job creation. Interested parties may contact John Korpela, 240-453-6348 or john.korpela@montgomerycountymd.gov.