More than 100 Idaho movers and shakers want to turn some 79,000 acres of land in and around the communities of Eagle and Star into a hotbed of high-tech activity.

The coalition of private businesses and state and local government officials plans to create the Eagle-Star Technology Corridor, or ESTech, an area envisioned as home to a number of business parks catering exclusively to high-tech companies.

ESTech's initial focus will be to convince both large and small technology companies operating in high-cost states like California to relocate to the Eagle-Star area. It also will try to entice some of the small industry startups already operating in the Treasure Valley to move to the area to be near potential future customers.

"Like businesses like to cluster together," said John Sosoka, co-founder of Ugobe, a California robotics company that relocated to Downtown Eagle earlier this month from Emeryville, Calif., and has since been labeled "the poster child" for the ESTech movement by Eagle Chamber of Commerce President Teri Bath

Some industry observers are skeptical about ESTech's chances of relocating a major out-of-state high-tech firm, arguing that the Valley lacks sufficient numbers of the skilled high-tech workers a large company might need. Others warn that Idaho does not offer enough tax incentives to compete with most states.

ESTech is the latest entity that will be attempting to bring new business to the Treasure Valley, although it will be the only one devoted solely to pursuing high-tech companies and will concentrate on the Eagle-Star area exclusively.

The Idaho Economic Advisory Council provides private-sector guidance to the Idaho Department of Commerce, which has its own recruiting efforts. Some commerce department officials have been involved in getting ESTech off the ground, including Director Don Dietrich and Brian Dickens, administrator of the commercial innovation division.

"This is totally separate, though," said ESTech chairman Lloyd Mahaffey, who also leads the Economic Advisory Council.

ESTech also will operate separately from the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, an entity created by the Boise Chamber of Commerce to recruit new businesses to the Treasure Valley. BVEP has raised $5 million in private donations to fund its activities. Bath says ESTech hopes to work with BVEP.

FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE

Mahaffey is a 25-year high-tech executive who retired to Eagle in 2004 and is now managing partner of Dynamis Group, a land development and construction company. He said California is rich in potential high-tech companies looking for a less-expensive place to do business.

"You fish where the fish are," Mahaffey said. "I think I can show any high-tech company in California that they should move to Idaho."

The benefits that Mahaffey ticks off include:

Lower taxes.

Affordable housing and minimal transportation problems, compared to California.

An educated work force that includes hundreds of high-tech workers furloughed by Micron Technology and Hewlett-Packard in the last year, but who want to remain in the area.

Carolyn Harrison, managing partner with The Harrison Group, an Eagle-based sales and marketing company participating in the project, said ESTech will launch with a noon grand opening on Jan. 24 at the intersection of Idaho 44 and Idaho 16.

Supporters hope to raise $100,000 in donations from "everybody who would benefit" from an influx of new residents to the area, including area retailers, banks, real estate agents and developers. The money would go to pay for people to "get on a plane" to pitch the high-tech corridor to out-of-state companies, Harrison said.

ESTECH'S 'POSTER CHILD'

ESTech supporters who hit the road to meet with tech industry executives in other states already have one success story to tell.

It will be the story of Ugobe, which gained fame as the creator of Pleo, a robot dinosaur that can cuddle, talk, shake hands, approach the edge of a table without falling off and even fall asleep in its owner's lap. Through the use of a memory card, Pleo owners also can download software that gives Pleo the ability to sing Christmas songs, or become affectionate on Valentine's Day.

Ugobe's successful launch of Pleo has resulted in more than 100,000 worldwide sales in the last year. In the United States, Pleo retails for $349.

Sosoka says Eagle and Star are being monitored by high-technology companies that face making "hard-nosed business decisions" about where to locate their operations. Apart from a readily available pool of talent to choose from, companies know that the Valley offers shorter commute times, affordable housing and the recreational amenities a high-tech work force demands, he added.

"Companies in the Bay Area of California keep losing people to 10-man companies in Wisconsin and Wyoming," Sosoka said. "For some people, money is not the big thing. Here we're minutes away from skiing, snowboarding, mountain climbing and kayaking. And if we have a problem at work, you can walk around the hills and talk it out. Where else can you do that?

"A company gives its employees an immediate break as soon as it decides to move here."

The Treasure Valley recently caught the attention of Wired magazine, a high-tech publication that was in town to do a story on Ugobe, Sosoka said.

"They stayed two extra days just to take pictures (of the area) for themselves," he said. "You know they're going to be telling people about it, giving them a much different impression of Idaho."

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

The technology corridor will face some challenges.

The first will be a limited amount of available fiber optic cable that high-tech companies usually depend on, said Bob Bruce, chairman of the ESTech Real Estate and Infrastructure Committee.

"There is not as much fiber in the ground as I thought there would be," Bruce conceded.

Putting in new fiber optics will likely involve some form of "horse trading" between developers and Qwest, or incoming companies willing to pay part of the cost in exchange for a break on their purchase price or monthly rent, Bruce said.

Another challenge: "The last time I checked, the technology industry was not expanding," said John Glerum, director of Boise State University's Technical and Entrepreneurial Center, which helps high-tech startups write business plans and find capital. "And relocating takes money."

Glerum also said the area does not have enough high-tech people with the necessary skills to convince large companies to relocate to Idaho, adding that ESTech's efforts would be better spent helping existing technology companies in the Valley expand their businesses.

Even so, new companies also need employees with other kinds of skills. Ugobe, for instance, found supply chain talent among former Albertsons employees.

"Ugobe manufactures a robot, which it moves through a supply system to retailers," Mahaffey said. "Well, anybody who is used to moving groceries through a distribution system can certainly move a robot through a distribution system. Just because one company is letting go of talent does not mean that another company doesn't need that talent."

Pat Shannon, dean of the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University, said Idaho needs to commit more resources to higher education to ensure that the state's three universities are turning out engineers in large enough numbers to attract out-of-state high-tech companies.

Moreover, it will have to increase the handful of tax incentives it offers to companies willing to relocate to the state. Otherwise, it will not be able to compete with states such as New Mexico, which recently doled out millions in incentives to attract a new HP facility to Rio Rancho, N.M.

"We ought to be able to compete with New Mexico," Shannon said.

House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, an ESTech supporter, said Idaho lawmakers took a step toward helping attract new businesses to Idaho by passing his Small Employer Incentive Act in 2005. The act offers job credits, tax credits and a sales tax rebate to businesses of every size. Subsequent legislation in 2007 sponsored by Moyle and Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, allows county officials to exempt an incoming company from property taxes for up to five years.

Moyle said the next step should be cutting Idaho's corporate and personal income tax rates that combine to produce the 13th highest tax burden in the nation.

He conceded, however, that given the state's current economic condition, cutting taxes during the upcoming legislative session is unlikely.

Joe Estrella: 377-6465