Technology incubator manager to meet with UAF community

Submitted by Arlene Strandberg
Phone: (907) 474-1909
02/14/06

Jeffrey Madge, manager of the University of Calgary’s technology incubator for high-tech companies, will be in Fairbanks Feb. 23-24 to meet with UAF faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the Fairbanks business community.

Madge will meet with the university community from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 in 501 IARC. Lunch will be served, but space is limited. Please contact Arlene Strandberg at 474-1909 or via e-mail at fnacs@uaf.edu by 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 20 if you plan on attending the lunch.

As manager of the Research Transition Facility (RFT), Madge helped oversee an initial $1.4 million in seed money from the government of Alberta to design and construct the 11,183-square-foot pilot technology incubation facility.

RFT is a multi-tenant, not-for-profit facility located adjacent to the Calgary campus. Madge is responsible for helping university entrepreneurs turn new ideas and discoveries into marketable products and services. Specifically aimed at faculty members, alumni, staff and students who are developing technology with commercial potential, RFT provides lab and office space at a moderate rent, along with other business services, to help these entrepreneurs get fledgling enterprises off the ground.

Madge has considerable experience in helping small and medium-sized businesses take innovative technology to market. He spent a decade working in federal government programs designed to commercialize new products and processes. He previously worked in research and development in the Canadian oil, petrochemical and advanced ceramics industries with positions at Imperial Oil and the Ontario Research Foundation. He holds a doctorate in surface and colloid chemistry from the University of Bristol.