Teknekron Corporation

Teknekron Corporation is one of the world's first technology-focused business incubators. [1]

Teknekron Corporation
TypePrivate
Founded1968 (1968)
Headquarters
Incline Village, Nevada
,
United States
Websiteteknekroncorp.com

Teknekron was founded in Berkeley, California, in 1968 by Harvey Wagner and several UC Berkeley professors, including George Turin, D.Sc., a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences who served as vice president of technology. By 1991 it had grown to $225 million in revenue, a 40% annual rate of growth.[1]

The company is registered in the tax shelter of Incline Village in Nevada. Although Wagner had a small office there near his Lake Tahoe house,[2] most of the company's operations are in Berkeley, the San Francisco Peninsula, and the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

Theoretical and policy research

During the 1960s and 1970s, Teknekron was awarded numerous research contracts by the U.S. government, including the transfer of technology from NASA's space program to civilian uses, [3] the dispersal modeling and generation forecasts of noxious gases from power generation,[4][5] urban effects of drought in San Francisco,[6] mental health services in California,[7] durability of manufactured goods,[8] and public perceptions of highway safety.[9]

Contracted research for private clients included Workers' compensation.[10] Some of Teknekron's research was performed in partnership with UC Berkeley.[11]

The stated goal of the company is: "New Teknekron ventures do not take the traditional course of developing, from the outset, a standard product for the end-user market. Instead, they concentrate on developing products for inclusion in other, generally larger companies' product lines, and on delivering customized integrated systems for such companies' internal use. It is only after years of working with client companies on specific projects that a Teknekron enterprise might condense its market-honed technologies into generic "core products." This market approach has distinguished us from venture- capital partnerships, which tend to focus on funding companies that ab initio develop products for the end-user market."

Incubated businesses

By 1991 four companies had been spun out as separate public companies or sold off, one had failed and six were running as "affiliate companies."[1]

Partnerships

Teknekron partnered with external firms as well. In 1991 it signed a co-marketing agreement with the Belgian microelectronics research partnership Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre.[19]

Sources
  1. Peters 1991.
  2. Clark 1988.
  3. Aerospace 1970.
  4. Barse 1977.
  5. Altshuller et al. 1980.
  6. Hoffman, Glickstein & Liroff 1979.
  7. Koran & Meinhardt 1984.
  8. Lacy 1985.
  9. Arnould & Grabowski 1981.
  10. Jewell, Johnston & Leavitt 1974.
  11. Jewell 1971.
  12. Securities and Exchanges Commission 1999.
  13. Files 1999.
  14. "OpenTV wins early round". Alameda Times-Star. 2003-01-10. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  15. Files, Jennifer (1999-04-22). "California software firm agrees to buy IEX Corp". The Dallas Morning News (3rd ed.). pp. 2D. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  16. Clark 1992.
  17. Smith 1993.
  18. Evenson 1993.
  19. Segers 1993.

References
  • Jewell, William S.; Johnston, Tom L.; Leavitt, Stephen S. (1974-09-01). "Operations Research in the Insurance Industry: II. An Application in Claims Operations of Workmen's Compensation Insurance". Operations Research. 22 (5): 929–941. doi:10.1287/opre.22.5.929. ISSN 0030-364X. JSTOR 169650.
  • Segers, Jean-Pierre (1993-12-01). "Strategic Partnering between New Technology Based Firms and Large Established Firms in the Biotechnology and Micro-Electronics Industries in Belgium". Small Business Economics. 5 (4): 271–281. doi:10.1007/BF01516248. ISSN 0921-898X. JSTOR 40228936.
  • Koran, Lorrin M.; Meinhardt, Kenneth (1984-08-01). "Social Indicators in Statewide Mental Health Planning: Lessons from California". Social Indicators Research. 15 (2): 131–144. doi:10.1007/BF00426284. ISSN 0303-8300. JSTOR 27521234.
  • Barse, Joseph R. (1977-12-01). "Agriculture and Energy Use in the Year 2000: Discussion from a Natural Resource Perspective". American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 59 (5): 1073–1074. doi:10.2307/1239892. ISSN 0002-9092. JSTOR 1239892.

Fisher, Lawrence (18 December 1993). "Reuters Is Buying Teknekron". Retrieved 11 October 2013.

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