Gov. Mike Beebe, who has made economic development and high-tech, innovation-based businesses a cornerstone of his administration, this week applauded the new name change for the Arkansas Small Business Development Center.

Beebe was attending the news conference hosted Monday by ASBDC in the Donald W. Reynolds Center of Business and Economic Development to announce its new name: Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC). The name change for Arkansas’ network of small business development centers recognizes the role technology plays in the state’s economic development.

Beebe was among other speakers on hand to unveil the new name and logo: UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson; Dr. Jane P. Wayland, interim dean of the College of Business; Janet M. Roderick, state director of the ASBTDC; and Jerry Adams, president and CEO of the Arkansas Research Alliance.

“We need to prepare our small businesses for a strong standing in a competitive 21st-century economy,” Beebe said.  “Many technological innovations begin in our small businesses, and this center will support those companies and foster advances that will lead to long-term success.”

“Our new name illustrates an important extension of our mission to serve Arkansas’ entrepreneurial community,” Roderick said. “Arkansas must be on the leading edge of technology to compete with other states, and internationally, in this economy. Our small businesses must be able to access and utilize available technology to expand and grow.”

The center has developed its technology services over the last decade, adding cutting-edge market research capabilities, expanding technology training programs and creating staff positions to focus on innovation and technology. ASBTDC also specializes in helping all types of existing small businesses apply technology.

The expansion of services helped the center qualify for special technology accreditation from the national Association of Small Business Development Centers. The accreditation recognizes the center’s ability to assist clients in areas such as commercialization, research and development funding, technology transfer, intellectual property and equity financing.

The ASBTDC was only the fifth of the 63 small business development centers in the country to earn the technology designation.

“We began a decade ago to develop services for innovation and technology-based businesses when it became apparent that a key to economic growth in Arkansas would be our own innovation – not just waiting for jobs and companies to choose us, but growing our own,” said Roderick.

In the last five years, the center helped create 5,024 new jobs in Arkansas and retain another 3,373 jobs. Over the same time span, it helped clients secure $216 million in funding for their small businesses.

Roderick pointed to several Arkansas science and technology entrepreneurs to illustrate how the small business center helps clients turn new technologies into businesses.

For example, Jeff Burton’s family company, AgRobotics, is a leader in precision agriculture technology. AgRobotics’ first product, the Autoprobe, is a precision soil-sampling machine. Dr. Laura James is a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences researcher who along with two colleagues developed a “dipstick” test for acetaminophen overdoses and created Acetaminophen Toxicity Diagnostics.

Both have worked closely with Mildred Holley, ASBTDC technology programs manager. Holley was designated a certified technology counselor last week by the national Association of Small Business Development Centers, Roderick announced.

Established in 1980, the ASBTDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the UALR College of Business. Through the headquarters located at UALR and a statewide network of seven offices, ASBTDC assists start-ups, existing businesses, expanding businesses and technology businesses through consulting, training, and research services.