NH - NEW HAMPSHIRE
Synergy Research Corporation
P.O Box 5056
Hanover,NH03755-5056

Robert Dean, Jr., ScD
President
Tel: 603-298-5349
Fax: 603-298-8513

Dr. Dean is a "Pioneer" nominee of Roland Tibbetts because of his long history of support and success in the SBIR program. According to Roland: "Dr. Robert Dean founded and was president or chairman of six small, high-technology companies in the Hanover, NH area. The six original companies spun off eight more firms making a total of 14 compares founded directly or indirectly by 0a efforts. The combined employment of these firms exceeds 1500. SBIR played a role in the survival and growth of a number of them. Combined cumulative sales of the 14 firms exceed $800 million. Most of the companies were built on Dean's ideas in which he combined divergent technologies from cross-industry and emerging fields.

Dr. Dean founded Creare, a thermal sciences company, in 1961 -and headed it for 15 years. In 1968, Bob founded Hypertherm as a subsidiary within Creare to develop and manufacture plasma-arc metal-cutting equipment. Creare spun off Hypertherm in 1969 and today, with 400 employees, it is the world leader in this field.

In 1976 bob left Creare to found Creare Innovations with the specific objective of creating companies from new technology. Spinoffs from Creare Innovations included (1) Verax, founded in 1979 to pursue bioprocess manufacturing for pharmaceuticals, (2) Creonics, founded in 1982 to develop motion control for precise machines, and (3) Spectra, founded in 1984 to produce four-color drop-on-demand hotwax printers. Creonics, later sold to Allen Bradley, is now a 60-employee unit. Spectra raised $40 million in venture capital from Xeros and others, and now has nearly 100 employees.

Bob moved from Creare Innovations to head Verax as founder and CEO. Verax received NSF, and later NIH, SBIR awards, which resulted in two breakthroughs that made possible the continuous production of monoclonal antibodies and other high-value biopharmaceuticals. This success spurred the firms' growth to 125 employees and generated $43 million in follow-on investment from Eli Lilly, Genentec, Combustion Engineering, Pharmacia and 10 venture capital firms. Verax and its successor company (1993), Creative Biomolecules, became significant producers of the biopharmaceuticals. The unique manufacturing process contributed to a sharp price reductions in drugs.

In 1987, Dr. Dean founded Synosis which focused on chromatography and bioanalytical instrumentation. Synosis became PerSeptive Biosystems, raised $120 million in venture capital and emerged a leader in the field with 525 employees and sales of $89 million in 1995. Two years later, Bob founded Dean Technology (now Synergy Research) to once again create and spin off new ventures. Robert is a true Pioneer and demonstrated how commercialization of SBIR and other research can create jobs."