After one year of existence, the University of Memphis Research Foundation’s Research Park has already made big things happen for startup businesses and the Memphis community.

The University of Memphis converted a former library on the edge of campus at Highland Street and Midland Avenue into the UMRF Research Park in January 2019. The goal was to create a co-working space for startups that would serve as an innovation hub capable of attracting global talent and having a long-lasting economic impact on the community. The year one results have been overwhelmingly positive.

The Research Park — a 10,000-square-foot facility — has already housed a startup that expanded into downtown Memphis (Prospero Health) and attracted another (DEVCON) with plans to heavily invest in the city. Between the two, more than 400 jobs are projected to be brought to Memphis in the near future.

SweetBio, an anchor tenant of the Research Park, received FDA clearance last summer to begin marketing a cutting-edge device that uses honey to assist with wound care. Green Mountain Tech, another company that has shared the space since its inception, is planning for at least 20% growth annually over the next three years.

Clearly, the businesses occupying space inside the Research Park are using the partnership as a launching pad. As of November 2019, the Research Park was at capacity. The UofM’s Office of Economic Development and Government Affairs is already working on a plan for expansion.

There are several factors drawing budding startups to the Research Park. Above all else, access to talented students at the University is the primary attraction. That’s a mutually beneficial relationship — the businesses have convenient access to a talented employee base while UofM students are given a fast-track opportunity to a career. In the process, the community is made better as both the growing companies and University students remain in Memphis.

Prospero Health

Within the next five years, Prospero Health is on a path of rapid growth that projects to bring 250 jobs to the City of Memphis. The UMRF Research Park served as the springboard for this home-based supportive care company to anchor itself in the city.

Prospero Health ended up as a tenant at 460 S. Highland St. shortly after co-founder and president Michael Scarbrough attended the grand opening of the Research Park in January 2019. That’s where Scarbrough was connected with UofM chief economic development and government relations officer Ted Townsend.

“When I talked to Michael about coming into the Research Park, it was with the understanding that, beyond just occupying space, this could present a strategic, long-term partnership for the University,” Townsend said.

By the end of January, Prospero Health had moved in, seizing on an opportunity the company felt was too good to pass up.

“For us, the Research Park was the perfect space to facilitate the kind of brainstorming we needed,” said Scarbrough, a Memphis native with 29 years of experience in the healthcare industry.

“A significant added benefit was the chance to build a relationship with the University from our beginning. We would’ve been searching for a way to connect with the University regardless. To have the Research Park opportunity provided to us, it was the perfect welcome mat for a startup hoping to access the talent coming out of the University. It’s been so great for us.”

Prospero Health’s growth plan quickly made a larger space a necessity. In September, the company moved into a floor in the One Commerce Square building downtown. The goal is to occupy a total of three floors at the location, further fulfilling the desire to build a large presence in Memphis.

Of the 1,200 employees Prospero Health expects to hire, the largest concentration will be in Memphis. The city will serve as Prospero’s operational headquarters, where employees will provide administrative and clinical assistance to doctors, nurses, social workers and other professionals who care for patients with serious illnesses across the country. Smaller teams will be located in Boston and Minneapolis. Additionally, because Prospero is using the city as its training headquarters, every hire will spend at least some time in Memphis.

Though Prospero Health has moved out of the Research Park, its connection to the UofM remains strong. Scarbrough is heading a concerted, multi-layered effort to build a pipeline that allows Prospero Health to tap into the talented workforce coming from the University while providing students with real-world learning opportunities and pathways  to a career.

“There’s certainly a talent angle to it,” Scarbrough said, “but we’re also going to continually have meetings and an open dialogue with various deans at the University where we think our services are relevant. We’re about exploring not only what can we get from the University, but also what can we contribute back.”

Scarbrough is currently working with the UofM on the possibility of bringing MBA students into the company — ideally for a semester — to work on projects centered around their program. Prospero Health’s commitment to hiring UofM students is already apparent. Among recently hired employees in the Memphis office, 18% were 2019 UofM graduates.

“I really want to commend the University for creating the Research Park,” Scarbrough said. “If you look at Prospero, DEVCON, Green Mountain Technology, SweetBio and you just kind of go down the list; each one of those companies has a chance to be better because of the association with the University of Memphis. Absent the Research Park, I think it would be much harder to do what we’re all doing.”

DEVCON

Originally based in Atlanta, DEVCON’s founders discovered the perfect
opportunity to grow their cybersecurity company at the UMRF Research Park.

The space Prospero Health moved out of due to company growth didn’t stay vacant for long. DEVCON, a startup cybersecurity company, quickly moved in with big plans for building its foundation in Memphis.

DEVCON became a UMRF Research Park tenant in September and plans to hire an estimated 160 employees in Memphis over the next five years. The city will serve as its headquarters with current employees also based in Atlanta and London.

“We started discussions about coming here in July, we had a handshake agreement in August and in September we were moving in,” said DEVCON CEO Maggie Louie. “That’s a good example of what makes this move so great for us because it shows everyone is rowing in the same direction. When you’re surrounded by people in a city and at a University where everybody wants the same thing, there’s an urgency to make things happen. It’s easy to say yes to that.”

Louie founded DEVCON in 2017 along with COO Casey Hester and CTO Josh Summitt, who is a Memphis native and UofM graduate. While the leadership group has a vision for fast growth, there’s no expectation it will begin looking outside the UofM for a larger space within the city. Instead, the company plans to grow along with the Research Park, and become a long-term tenant with a role in the expansion plans.

“We want to make sure that we are in a position that is really connected with students and their new ideas,” Louie said. “We want a really fun, dynamic, interactive and innovative lab for developing new technologies. That’s a big part of why we’re here. We think this is the place for that.”

DEVCON’s long-term plans with the Research Park and the City of Memphis are driven by the incentive to create a mutually beneficial ecosystem for itself, UofM students and the Memphis community.

“In cybersecurity, I think Memphis has a huge opportunity,” Louie said. “There is so much room for growth and there’s a very high demand in the industry. You’ll find a lot of job opportunities in places like Seattle and San Francisco, which are fine cities, but the pay rate hasn’t kept up with the rising cost of living in those places. That’s putting younger generations at a significant disadvantage.

“From my perspective, everyone at the University of Memphis is very supportive of creating an environment that will help push the future of cyber and tech forward,” Louie said. “We want to be part of that and help that grow. There’s going to be a lot of incredible growth happening here. We are so excited to get into the Research Park in the beginning and help build that in a city where there’s a lot of momentum.”

“By creating well-paying jobs in places like Memphis, where the cost of living isn’t such a burden, you’re really giving students a head start on life in the real world. You’re also keeping students from leaving the city. Those are things that really appeal to us.”

DEVCON’s path to success presents a unique set of challenges. As a startup specializing in protection for third-party Javascript vulnerabilities, a major need in cybersecurity, there’s no clear roadmap for the company to follow. Instead, as Louie puts it, there’s a lot of “breaking, hacking, discovering and learning” to be done.

That’s yet another reason DEVCON is drawn to the UofM’s Research Park. The company looks forward to becoming immersed in an environment that cultivates the new and innovative ideas needed to make DEVCON a success.