The agency, which manages incubators on O'ahu and Maui, also plans to offer entrepreneurial classes for a fee as it tries to take a more active role helping Hawai'i’s fledgling technology industry grow despite budget cuts.

The announcements were expected to be made by HTDC Executive Director Phil Bossert during a luncheon sponsored by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association this afternoon. Bossert said the goal is to increase the profile and effectiveness of HTDC, which primarily runs business incubators and provides courses in how to obtain federal research money.

The new strategy comes after a survey of about 100 Hawai'i technology companies last year found that few knew what HTDC did, Bossert said.

"It is an attempt to answer the question what does HTDC do and to do more," he said. "We’re trying to take a larger role and trying to bring more federal funding into the state to support technology."

HTDC also plans to partner with other economic development-related groups, including the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, by running its small-business incubator, which is expected to open by year’s end. UH-Hilo is spending $3 million on the project, which is jointly financed by state sources and the federal Economic Development Administration. The building was donated to UH-Hilo by Bank of Hawaii in 1999.

Under terms of its agreement, HTDC will receive a fee to market and lease the facility with the potential to earn more based on the number of clients brought into the incubator. The Hilo facility will be augmented in the spring as HTDC starts marketing unused space at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai'i Authority, which runs an ocean science and technology park on the Kona side of the Big Island, Bossert said.

In addition to these facility-based incubators, HTDC said it has started a so-called "virtual incubator" program to give non-incubator-based start-ups access to facilities such as meeting rooms and services such as lawyers, accountants, marketing and human resources at reduced fees. Enrollment in the program costs $100 a month. Bossert said virtual incubators also will be available in the spring at NELHA and on Kaua'i in partnership with the West Kaua'i Technology Center in Waimea.

It’s hoped the virtual incubators will be a feeder system for the state’s various business incubators, Bossert said.

The expansion of services comes as HTDC’s fiscal 2003 budget of $1.3 million faces a loss of about $260,000 during the next two years as the state tightens its belt during uncertain economic times. To cope with the loss of money, the agency reduced its own office space at the Manoa Innovation Center in order to free up more leasable space and took over management of the Maui Research and Technology Center earlier this year.

HTDC also plans to supplement income by offering entrepreneurial training programs certified by the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for fees ranging from $450 to $650 a person.

"We’re trying to provide more services from less space to more people," Bossert said.