RMI2's CEO looks toward standout 2010

Ask Mark Forsyth about his role with Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative, or RMI2 and you are more likely to hear about the promising collaborations materializing among the organization's start-up companies or the new 31,000-square-foot building planned for the new year.

As RMI2's chief executive officer, Forsyth prefers to deflect any attention to the 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation that has helped such scientific and technology startup companies as Sprig Toys, ZeroHero and Eckstein Diagnostics.

But it is, in good part, Forsyth's effort that has helped cultivate the growing reputation of RMI2 and Northern Colorado as an innovative and entrepreneurial hotbed.

It is that reputation that led a visitor from the Smithsonian Institute to Fort Collins earlier this year in search of a "real life innovation hot spot."

About to conclude its second year since the Fort Collins Technology Incubator relaunched itself on Jan. 1, 2008, as RMI2, the organization has grown from four to 19 start-up companies and will review a new group of applicants in January.





With that momentum, combined with a new facility and FastTrac program, Forsyth, 54, of Fort Collins is looking to have a standout 2010 for RMI2.

The most visible growth RMI2 will have in 2010 is breaking ground on a new $7.3 million three-story building at College Avenue and Vine Street, which will include a 3,000-foot wet lab.

The move will allow the organization to consolidate its four facilities in Fort Collins into one.

The facility will double RMI2's current square footage and provide it the needed room to grow.

"We continue to see, not just a steady demand, but an increasing demand," Forsyth said. There is so much potential with the companies we are working with today."

The building will be a "symbol of an entrepreneurial hub," which Forsyth plans to use to strengthen regional partnerships with Colorado State University, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley and Loveland.

With its growth in 2010, RMI2 plans to collaborate more with its partners throughout the region.

In exploring those partnerships, Forsyth said there is the opportunity to expand the menu of services RMI2 offers its clients.






One partnership already planned, which Forsyth is excited about, is with the Kauffman Foundation. In the spring, RMI2 plans to launch a FastTrac program, which is a comprehensive business-planning program that addresses the needs of start-up entrepreneurs looking to grow their business. The first of its kind in Colorado, it is a way to bring together ideas for new business.

Kelly Peters, chief operations officer of RMI2, said Forsyth is a wonderful strategic thinker. She said unconstrained by the negatives of the economy, Forsyth is able to see the big picture.

"He thinks so big, it's contagious," Peters said. "His combination of humility and that strategic thinking makes him a good architect for RMI2."

Mike Freeman, the city's chief financial officer and chair of RMI2's board, said Forsyth was the right man to take the organization to the next level.

"The next wave is continuing to evolve the organization for the new building. More space, more resources and more companies that we are supporting," Freeman said. "That's the next big wave we are riding now and into 2010."

www.coloradoan.com/article/20100104/NEWS01/1040318/RMI2-s-CEO-looks-toward-standout-2010