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For Immediate Release
September 26, 2005
Local engineering company supports VBDC
Richmond, VA – The Virginia Biotechnology Research Park announced today that SPARK, a local product design and engineering consulting firm, has become the newest sponsor of the Virginia Biosciences Development Center, the Park’s incubator program.
“The VBDC is excited to add SPARK as a partner organization offering impressive design expertise which will particularly benefit our medical device companies,” said David R. Lohr, executive director of the VBDC. “The VBDC plays an important role in fueling the region’s life sciences industry, and relationships such as this allow us to continue growing a strong indigenous base of bioscience companies.
Led by three veteran principals with multi-disciplinary experience, SPARK specializes in hardware product development from concept design, to 3D CAD modeling, through rapid prototyping and into final production documentation. Their core product development expertise is mechanical engineering, product design, 3D CAD (computer-aided design), prototyping and design-for-manufacture & assembly.
“Our experience in diverse industries enables us to be a quick study, provide objective analysis, and apply our proven design process to tackle any product-centric development challenge,” said Tim Thompson of SPARK. “We have a history of working with companies at the Park and were excited to have the opportunity to become a sponsor of their nationally recognized incubator program.”
Since 1997, SPARK has served clients in various industries — including medical, consumer, commercial and industrial markets. Clients include Fortune 500-caliber companies such as Rubbermaid (housewares) and Coca-Cola (consumer), fast-growth start-ups such as Tridium (HVAC hardware controls), a 2004 Virginia Technology Fast 50 company, and bio-technology companies such as Hemodyne, ranked first in the annual 2004 Early-Stage Venture Competition, and Nanomatrix, a tenant of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park.
The VBDC, located at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, provides business assistance to start-up companies located in the Park’s incubator facility. In less than five years, the VBDC has emerged as a major contributor to the growth of early stage life science technology businesses in the Richmond area. VBDC staff has counseled more than 25 start-ups, resulting in more than $10 million in new grants, contracts and equity investments.
Contact:
Nicky Colomb
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 828-6884
E-mail: ncolomb@vabiotech.com
Web site: http://www.vabiotech.com
Tim Thompson
SPARK - Product Design & Engineering Specialists
Phone: (804) 440-5700
Email: timthompson@sparkengineering.com
Web: http://www.sparkengineering.com
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