Nina Sawczuk took the helm at ATDC this month and wants to reach beyond core members

By Allan Maurer
 
Nina Sawczuk, 48, formerly assistant director of the Advanced Technology Development Center in Atlanta who took the helm this month as ATDC manager and director of Startup Services, says extending its programs beyond core suite members is a priority.

Nina Sawczuk, ATDC manager and director of Startup Services

ATDC provides space, mentoring, and contacts for Atlanta startups. Nearly a year ago, ATDC opened its doors to a greater number of companies as it merged with the Georgia Tech VentureLab program and the state SBIR assistance program. It also manages the Georgia Tech Edison Fund.

Currently, Sawczuk tells us, ATDC includes more than 300 firms, about 20 to 30 resident in its seed or suite space offices.

Sawczuk, who has been with ATDC since last October, was previously a founder of Zygogen, which sold Zebrafish embryos that researchers used in drug development experiments. Prior to that, she held drug discovery consulting and business development roles in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, in Boston, and in Southern California, so she knows startup hubs well.

At ATDC, she has spent most of her time with the biosciences incubator, which includes wet lab space. “It’s full for the first time in years,” she notes. It helps nuture medical device, research tool, and biotech startups.

ATDC’s startup office suites are in the Centergy Tech Square Research Building, downtown Atlanta

“I think it’s appropriate to have someone from a non information technology background as director,” she says. “I see a lot of broadening and blending of opportunities for startups. Many areas, health IT, developmental health services, robotics, clean energy and other areas integrate a lot of the technology from both biotech and IT. There is a lot of growth in those areas.”

Handling the data streaming out of biotechnology research labs requires powerful new tools. “You need computing horsepower behind data analysis to discern what is statistically relevant” in areas such as predictive diagnostics for cancer and other areas, she says.

What’s is the major challenge facing entrepreneurs and startups today? We bet you know the answer to that one: funding.

“The reason I’m doing this job,” says Sawczuk, “is to work on how to address funding in innovation.” The Georgia Tech university environment is a “fabulous place” to do that, she adds. “Georgia Tech is one of the top five engineering schools. It has a history of supporting innovation. This is the 30th anniversary of ATDC. Coming in from the private sector, it’s impressive how cutting edge Georgia Tech, Emory and ATDC have been for many years. It’s exciting to be in an organization with a history of understanding the importance of this space and funding it well.”

Startup folks hard at work in an ATDC office. Note the pyramid of coffee cups against the window. Entrepreneurs still run on caffeine

Funding is not pouring into startups as it has at other times, however, and that affects development time, she says. “There is a lot of bootstrapping and the drive to bring in revenue is more acute. There is a lot of intensity. Limited funds help drive focus.”

With a lot of change going on in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, “We’re trying to understand how to deliver value and serve entrepreneurs beyond the folks in our suites,” she says. “We want to play an important role beyond our brick and mortar capability and reach throughout the state and broaden our touch.”

In addition to the ATDC suites in the Centergy Building at Tech Square in Atlanta, its biotech wet labs and offices, it also has a third facility in Savannah.

Current plans don’t include more physical sites, she says. “We support people building their own incubators and we have a good model for that.”

The problem of supporting tech commercialization throughout the state poses “resource challenges,” she says. If ATDC had more resources, she would use them to support greater outreach. “We’re running into people with great ideas in Augusta, Rome, and Savannah, not just Atlanta,” she explains.

Although the recession hit Atlanta as hard as any city, it does force people to be more resourceful themselves, Sawczuk says. “Sometimes people can use their resources in creative ways to start and grow a company in times that are less than flush. You see a lot more entrepreneurs when the economy is bad. We see that here.”

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