Valpo business incubator closing down

• Reprints

Lab Associate Ryan Crowder checks some fetal bovine serum frozen at -112 degrees at IVDiagnostics in the Valparaiso Entech Innovation Center Wednesday October 20, 2010. The Entech Innovation Center will close it's doors after three years in January. | File Photo~Sun-Times Media

Updated: May 9, 2012 10:07AM

Valparaiso is closing its business incubator after three years of operation, according to a news release from the Valparaiso Economic Development Corp.

Entech Innovation Center will shut down at the start of the new year, the release said, and will be replaced by Elevate Ventures, a state not-for-profit group that will operate the local branch in Portage.

The city’s economic development group opened Entech in Eastport Centre on the southeast side of Valparaiso.

Entech’s purpose was to provide support and space for start-up businesses, which could then grow and hire more people in the area.

One such company was IVDiagnostics, which the release said is looking at starting clinical trials to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its commercial diagnostic tools.

If the company gets FDA approval, it could expand to 130 employees and create $200 million in revenue within five years, the release said.

“We were fortunate to be able to support IVDiagnostics in making a truly meaningful difference in the lives of patients and their families as well as a positive difference in our own community,” Charlie McGill, executive director of Entech, said in the release.

McGill will work with Elevate as entrepreneur in residence. The Elevate offices share space with the Northwest Indiana Forum and the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.