CenturyLink has grown into the nation's third largest telecommunications company because of its location in North Louisiana. The region's infrastructure, economic development organizations, incentives and skilled workforce have helped this company grow and succeed. The telecom giant remains headquartered in Monroe, La., creating new jobs and attracting suppliers and vendors to the region.
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Technology & North Louisiana Innovation Corridor

North Louisiana nurtures an emerging technology sector that we call the "North Louisiana Innovation Corridor." The Innovation Corridor is a collection of technology assets and innovative R&D programs, supported by the region's 12 colleges and universities. The Innovation Corridor also benefits from forward-thinking nonprofit organizations and foundations that support and cultivate a knowledge economy in North Louisiana.

With a growing network of venture capital funds and angel investors and technical and infrastructure assistance from nonprofits and foundations, North Louisiana offers a system of support to help sustain and grow technology companies.  The following map shows the technology clusters throughout the I-20 and I-49 corridors that connect our region.   

Programs in North Louisiana Innovation Corridor
Incentives for Commercialization of Technology

Notable Programs within the North Louisiana Innovation Corridor

 

 Biomedical Research Foundation and its Inter Tech Park, located in Shreveport, Louisiana, strive to pioneer a knowledge-based regional economy by cultivating and attracting digital media, film, life science enterprises and related technologies. Inter Tech Park serves as a technology incubator. Since 1986, The Biomedical Research Foundation has generated $213 million in support to promote this entrepreneurial environment.

 

 Bossier Parish Community College offers associate and certificate programs in four disciplines: technology; engineering; mathematics; and energy, construction and industrial technologies. Within the technology program, students learn innovative techniques and upcoming trends in computer systems, programming, networking and security. The engineering program provides students with a foundation to design and build solutions for the problems of tomorrow. In the concentration for mathematics, students will increase their quantitative understanding of concepts relevant to their area of study. The energy, construction, and industrial technologies program relates theoretical concepts to the actual production of goods and services using technologically advanced equipment and processes. All discipline areas strive to align curriculum with national certifications and prepare students for joining tomorrow's workforce.

 

 

 Cyber Innovation Center is a nonprofit corporation, which anchors a 3,000-acre National Cyber Research Park in Bossier City and serves as catalyst for the development and expansion of a knowledge-based workforce throughout the region. In 2007, Bossier City and Bossier Parish invested $50 million, along with the State of Louisiana who invested an additional $57 million, to launch this initiative. This investment established Phase 1 of the National Cyber Research Park and completed construction of the Cyber Innovation Center headquarters.

 

 CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the nation, headquartered in Monroe, LA. With its most recent acquisition of Savvis, CenturyLink is positioned to become a leader in cloud computing. Named one of the most innovative users of business technology by InformationWeek 500, CenturyLink provides broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses in 37 states. It also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink™ Prism™ TV and DIRECTV brands. In addition, the company provides data, voice and managed services to business, government and wholesale customers in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality, advanced fiber-optic network and multiple data centers.

 

 Grambling State University’s research in biosciences, engineering and technology supports the creation of progressive ideas and technology and offers professional quality applications to entrepreneurial endeavors. The Dept. of Biological Sciences is researching a way to eradicate malignant brain tumors. The Molecular Modeling Research Center combines computational techniques to conduct a multistate model of different molecular systems, particularly with conductive polymers. Inventive multifunctional materials are expected to change the way we use technology.

 

 

 Louisiana Delta Community College offers students exciting careers through studies like nursing, business technology, computer/networking support and process technology. Process technology operators control and monitor the systems that run industrial plants. Operators gather information using instrumentation and lab equipment to maintain safe work areas and keep plants in compliance with regulatory requirements. Students can also choose to study more than 180 industrialized-based courses through the Workforce Development program. Louisiana Delta Community College can provide a variety of training programs for businesses and industries in Northeast Louisiana through the Louisiana Department of Labor’s Incumbent Worker Training Program, grants and private pay. Opportunities include the Certified Manufacturing Specialist (CMS) training program. CMS is designed to build foundational skills needed in manufacturing and represents skills needed for about 85 percent of the new industrial jobs coming to the region.

 

 The LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport offers a multidimensional research program through its School of Medicine. Disciplines in basic and clinical sciences offer students and faculty unlimited research potential, inextricably linked to both patient care and education. Currently, hundreds of research projects are in progress that focus on a variety of diseases and conditions including, but not limited to, cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, Autism, Parkinson’s Disease and Diabetes. LSU Health Sciences has seen its research funding grow nearly 87% to $22 million in fiscal year 2008-2009. In addition, LSU Health Sciences Center is actively working to help researchers market their discoveries to biomedical companies.

 

 Louisiana State University-Shreveport’s Animation and Visual Effects Program takes advantage of Shreveport/Bossier’s new status as a film & TV production and digital media hotbed. Due to Louisiana’s generous film and digital media tax credits, North Louisiana ranks #3 in the U.S. for film and TV production. LSUS’s Animation and Visual Effects program produces the next generation of artists, graphic designers, animators, computer graphics enthusiasts, gamers, and computer scientists. Taught by instructors with extensive industry experience, graduates of this program provide the intellectual and creative capital to fuel North Louisiana’s entertainment and digital renaissance.

 

 Louisiana Tech University’s Institute for Micromanufacturing harnesses intellectual capital from faculty and students working on interdisciplinary research in order to develop cutting edge technology and inventions. Research at Louisiana Tech produces five times the national average on report of inventions (ROI) per expenditures, averaging 20 ROI per $10 million spent. License/option activity at Louisiana Tech has more than quadrupled over the past five years. The University partners with private industry to promote technology transfer and commercialization, which are nurtured at Tech’s two business incubators and at its newest Enterprise Campus. This 30-50 acre research park is modeled after Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

 

 

 Moonbot Studios is an animation and storytelling company co-founded by award-winning artists and filmmakers William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg and veteran film producer Lampton Enochs. Moonbot's philosophy is to develop stories as films, books, interactive applications and games, with a compelling emotional narrative and exciting visual aesthetics. The company built a state-of-art animation studio, which anchors the digital media/film wing at the Biomedical Research Foundation’s InterTech Science Park in Shreveport.

 

 Northwestern State University is an innovative, student-oriented institution committed to growing the region's and state's economy by meeting current and future economic development needs. NSU programs produce technology workers to fuel North Louisiana’s high tech renaissance. The new Department of Engineering Technology participates in Project Lead the Way, a national program that engages middle school and high school students in a curriculum designed to encourage interest in science, technology engineering and mathematics, giving them the foundation to pursue high tech careers.

 

 Southern University at Shreveport’s Office of Biomedical Research Development coordinates and enhances the biomedical and behavioral science research at the University. With two new biomedical research laboratories, an animal research facility and partnerships with other institutions, faculty and students are conducting interdisciplinary research. Additionally, the University offers a well-known Allied Health Sciences program which produces qualified health care professionals who provide the human capital to keep the region’s biomedical sector running. SUSLA works collaboratively with other research institutions, recently completing a two-year project on Virtual Tools for Expanding the Cyber Horizon (VTECH) with Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The project was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

 

 The University of Louisiana at Monroe’s College of Pharmacy is the only state supported pharmacy school in Louisiana, offering advanced degrees in pharmacy and pharmaceutical science, and an undergraduate degree in Toxicology-- one of only seven undergraduate toxicology programs in the nation. Every day, faculty and students perform groundbreaking research. Among the many research projects underway at ULM’s College of Pharmacy include fabricating nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, developing new drug formulations in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, and neuroscience research.

 

Incentives for Commercialization of Technology

The Technology Commercialization Credit and Jobs program provides a tax credit for companies that invest in the commercialization of Louisiana technology and create new jobs. Qualifying individuals or businesses that invest in the commercialization of Louisiana technology in Louisiana may be granted a refundable tax credit on any income or corporation franchise tax liability, and earn a refundable tax credit based on new jobs created. Qualifying research centers that develop Louisiana technology to be commercialized may be granted a refundable tax credit based on new jobs created. Such credits are granted for a period of no less than five years. Learn more