Alex Polkovsky moved his business into novaNAIT’s business incubator facility in St. Albert last April and in the months since he’s seen business grow significantly.
“We’ve quadrupled our business since being here,” said Polkovsky, project developer at NuEnergy Mechanical Services in St. Albert.
His company designs and builds renewable and conventional energy systems with a focus on solar panels, geothermal, wind and boiler systems and hydronics.
Polkovsky said NuEnergy began in his business partner’s garage before moving into a condo, followed by a 300-sq.-ft, office at the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI), which they quickly outgrew.
Now renting a multi-person office suite at novaNAIT, the company has access to several state-of-the-art boardrooms, reception and telephone support services, the Internet and communications solutions. It’s one of several businesses occupying space at the St. Albert location, one of three in the Edmonton area.
“People come to a business incubator for the opportunity to have their idea and their business supported in a community,” Kamren Farr, enterprise development officer at novaNAIT. “Business incubators are looked upon today as centres of innovation and drivers of economic growth.”
Entrepreneurs can also access a number of consulting and support services such as information on financing opportunities or mergers and acquisitions through novaNAIT, with businesses dictating novaNAIT’s involvement.
“They’ve been great in terms of actually being proactive and listening as opposed to having a mandate and dictating, which is a huge difference because a lot of incubators have a program or a set way of how you should be,” said Polkovsky.
Office space at novaNAIT’s St. Albert location ranges from $350 per month for a single office to $250 per desk per month in multi-person suites. Office furniture, phone and Internet access are all included in the cost.
“There are people that are working in their basements or their living room or their garages and this is what turns out to be an economical way for them to bring their idea from out of their house and into a business environment,” said Farr.
Within the last month, two businesses — Rocket Fuel Productions and Dehnamar Inc. — have graduated from novaNAIT St. Albert.
Unlike NABI, Farr said novaNAIT is specifically focused on technology development and aims to attract alternative energy companies and green businesses.
It’s a concept that meshes nicely with St. Albert’s new brand, “the Botanical Arts City” and slogan “Cultivate Life.”
“Certainly we want to create a bit of critical mass at this facility in that respect, with those sorts of businesses,” Farr said.
Larry Horncastle, the city’s director of business and tourism development, said novaNAIT is a great facility to have in St. Albert.
“We have a particular interest in the types of businesses they have there because they’re really looking for the clean technology, the creative-industry-type things,” he said.
Horncastle said the city has good working relationships with novaNAIT, NABI and TEC Edmonton that might be formalized down the road.
“We can offer more of the business support. Maybe the clients need information on traffic counts or age demographics or how do you get a business licence … we can do that,” Horncastle said.
But it’s not all business at the St. Albert location — half the building is devoted to applied research technology and includes three research labs.
Farr said the applied research group is aligned with industry needs and seeks to solve problems through innovative solutions.
Currently, one of the labs is being used to develop a robot to assist the RCMP.
Looking forward, Farr said he hopes to make local entrepreneurs more aware of the St. Albert location and the types of services available to them.
“Certainly our hope is to grow our presence and awareness for the facility and also for this facility to be looked upon by St. Albert entrepreneurs and inventors as a place that they can come to develop their product and prototypes as well as the incubation service.”
St. Albert novaNAIT will be holding an open house on March 9 from 2 to 6 p.m. Local entrepreneurs are welcome to come check out the facility and pitch their idea to entrepreneur-in-residence Randy Thompson. Anyone interested in pitching an idea must first register by contacting Colleen Porter at [email protected] or 780-378-2899.
The facility will also be holding an Entrepreneurs’ Boot Camp called “Preparing your company for investment” from March 19 to 21. Participants will learn how to develop their product or idea from the concept stage to how to make a formal presentation to an angel investor. Contact Porter to register.
