By Ralph Derickson

The new one-story building eventually will house five start-up companies and employ 20 to 25 people.  It is part of a complex that eventually will include seven laboratory-office buildings.

Participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Lexington Mayor Pam Miller, UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr., Robert Slone, KTI chairman, and representatives of Kentucky Utilities, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, and each of the banks that provided funds to construct the new building.

 The new one-story building that will eventually house five start-up companies and employ 20 to 25 people in its offices and laboratories cost $1.5 million and was constructed with privately-financed funds from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority and five local banks. 

President Wethington said the new building helps the university meet a strategic goal to be a catalyst for economic development in Kentucky.  The new building, Wethington said, provides "tangible evidence that we take seriously our role as an engine helping drive the Kentucky economy."

The UK Board of Trustees authorized the formation of KTI in 1988.  A seven-building KTI complex is envisioned.  The fourth building in the KTI complex was funded by the governor and General Assembly as part of the 1998 surplus expendtiure plan and will be dedicated in the spring.  The other three buildings within the KTI complex are being developed by the private sector.

Companies already located in the building or that will move in very soon are:

n              Lexington Carbon (LexCarb) that produces carbon filters for military and industrial applications.  LexCarb, headed by laboratory manager Marit Jagtoyen, produces such items as a filter which can convert diesel exhaust into usable water from vehicles like the Humvee, used extensively by the military;

n              Equine Biodiagnostics Inc., an equine diagnostic laboratory serving equine veterinarians around the world. The company's primary focus is to control equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a neurological disease affecting the ability of the horse to move or stand; and

n              Reflectronics Inc., which was formed to manufacture and sell technology developed by Fred Payne, a professor in the UK College of Agriculture's engineering department.  This firm manufactures sensors used in the process of aging cheese.