DATE: Tuesday, May 20, 1997                 TAG: 9705200359

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK            LENGTH:   61 lines

SMALLER FIRMS ARE CALLING RESEARCH TRIANGLE HOME

Move over, IBM and Research Triangle Institute, here comes Xanthon.

These days, the big, long-established firms in the Research Triangle Park are making room for some new, smaller companies.

It's a change dictated by a shifting business market in which start-ups and entrepreneurship have become a more important part of economic and job growth.

``Entrepreneurship is where we're going,'' said Monica Doss, executive director of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, which hopes to open its own office in RTP soon. ``As the economy . . . changes, the park needs to change with it.''

Some believe that the middle-aged park needs such flexibility if it's going to maintain its cutting-edge reputation while continuing to be the region's main economic engine.

The Research Triangle Foundation, which runs the park, officially embraced the downsized strategy last month when it opened the Park Research Center. The laboratory buildings, owned by the center, will be leased to small businesses such as Xanthon, a biotechnology company that employs eight people and is now run from its president's living room.

Xanthon, which is developing a new technology discovered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will move into the RTP this month.

The company, which maps gene structures in an effort to help develop new drugs, has applied for one patent and plans to apply for at least two more. After running the company from his living room in recent months, Xanthon president and chief executive officer Jim Skinner is grateful for lab space in the RTP.

``It's going to play a major role in assisting smaller companies that will lead to a number of very successful biotechnology companies,'' Skinner said.

The desire by smaller companies to be in the RTP is easy to understand.

A Research Triangle Park address bestows a certain legitimacy, and the central location makes it easier to draw talent from throughout the Triangle area. The smaller companies also can rub shoulders with corporate giants such as Glaxo Wellcome and IBM.

For all of these reasons, SARCO, a Durham biotechnology company, is considering leasing space in the Park Research Center. Started by three men who left Glaxo Wellcome in 1994, the company makes large batches of raw molecular materials for other companies to use in drug research.

``If you want to attract good people from Raleigh and Chapel Hill, you want to be centrally located,'' said L. Eric Hallman, vice president of operations and co-founder. ``And having the RTP address gives you a little more sense of credibility.''

Attracting smaller businesses to research parks has also become necessary as big manufacturing plants move overseas and landing the big mega-tenant becomes more of a rarity.

The Research Triangle Park took an earlier step toward welcoming fledgling companies when a business incubator called the First Flight Venture Center opened in 1992. Operated by a nonprofit organization created by the General Assembly, the center houses up to 20 businesses at a time and allows them to share resources such as receptionists and copying machines to save money.

``It's a big plus to be able to serve both ends of the spectrum,'' said John Ciannamea, president of the N.C. Technological Development Authority, which runs First Flight. ``Hopefully, one day these small companies will be big companies and they'll take some space in the park.''

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