PEORIA -- The city and county of Peoria should get their $6 million investment in Firefly Energy back through the bankruptcy court, Peoria NEXT's CEO Kyle Ham said on March 20.
Ham spoke to the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria on Peoria NEXT. He compared Peoria's economic development initiatives to planting seeds in a field, hoping some will grow to create wealth and provide local jobs.
Not all will sprout, however, and others may create wealth only for the investors, but not the ordinary people who need jobs, he acknowledged.
Peoria NEXT is part of the Heartland Partnership, and affiliated with several other groups, such as the Economic Development Council. It aims to capitalize on Peoria's largely invisible assets, including:- The airport, second only to Chicago's O'Hare in depth and length of runways.
- Its national ratings as the 15th best place in the nation to launch a business, and 16th as a "hot-spot" for young professionals.
Peoria NEXT's partners include Caterpillar, Inc., Ameren, Bradley University, the hospitals and medical school, the US agriculture lab, slated for a $50 million expansion soon, and others. It aims to commercialize products discovered by these entities and entrepreneurs.
It operates a $13.5 million innovation center near Bradley, where entrepreneurs can rent space and receive extensive support from the partners. It has 14 tenants with room for five more. The third floor is a Caterpillar, Inc. "think tank," he said.
Caterpillar has developed 2,800 patents within the last six years, he said. Some of these may be turned into products pushed by Peoria NEXT.
He gave examples of products supported by Peoria Next, including a dosage device used to accurately administer medications, now being manufactured in Kalamazoo, Mich.; a device to easily detect food pathogens such as viruses and fungus, now under development, and a computer chip to be placed within a human body to monitor vital functions and detect a heart attack before it occurs, now undergoing testing.
It's working on pennycress, a weed that can be harvested for its oil to make a biofuel. A 45 million gallon operation to produce it likely will be built near Mapleton, he said, with the fuel sold for jet fuel to O'Hare.
Firefly Energy, which aimed to produce a better battery, not long ago had 75 employees, and up to $120 million in contracts for batteries. But the Great Recession caused orders to be canceled, Ham said, and the company needed to raise $20 million to keep going. It failed, he said, and filed for bankruptcy liquidation.
"The city and county should get their money back," he said. He's hopeful "the right people" will take control of the patents and technology, and keep the battery alive, he said. It's now up to the bankruptcy court.Ninety percent of all start-ups fail, he said.
Meanwhile under Peoria NEXT, 14 companies are employing 100 people, he said. "Some companies may grow and want to be manufactured here," he said. Local investors will make money and stay in Peoria and reinvest in other start ups, he added.
"Wealth creation is a side factor of what we do," he said.
My take: millions of tax funds have gone into Peoria NEXT, to create jobs, not make money for investors. But that seems to be its main function if the products are going to be manufactured elsewhere. Is this a proper use of local tax funds? What is the bottom line, here, the payoff?
Yet the products he mentioned are all apparently valuable to the society at large, and worthy of development. (Wouldn't it be great to have a handy device to test the fish just purchased from the supermarket?)
These are public policy issues that deserve to be explored by elected officials before more tax money is pumped into these ventures. Who will ultimately benefit? Is it worth it? Or just another subsidy to the rich? Interesting questions.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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