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Innova flees Fla. and goes to Wash.

Fort Myers can't keep robotics firm in town
By Tim Engstrom • [e-mail] • March 4, 2008

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803040347

The official corporate headquarters of Innova Robotics & Innovation has shifted from Fort Myers to Redmond, Wash., along with the company's interim executive leadership.


The company's vice president for investor relations and a business development manager remain in Fort Myers, said Lloyd Spencer, interim chief executive officer.

"There are an awful lot of investors here in the Fort Myers area and we are going to continue to take care of those investors and their interests," Spencer said.

He said he has spent the last several days in Fort Myers meeting with some of those investors and plans to return to the area regularly.

Spencer, the president and chief executive of CoroWare, an Innova subsidiary, took over as interim CEO of Innova in February following the death of CEO Eugene Gartlan.

Founder and Fort Myers resident Walt Weisel stepped down from the company at the end of 2007.

Innova's operations are divided among its RWT and CoroWare operations. Historically, RWT developed control systems for industrial robots, such as those used in manufacturing. CoroWare, acquired in 2006, develops mobile robotic platforms and information technology and software services.

The company trades over the counter for about 1 cent a share. It has about 28 full-time employees and another 15 contract employees.

Spencer said the company still values a partnership with the University of South Florida and the Fort Myers area remains key to communicating with contract employees in South America.

"Right now, we are reshaping what Florida is all about for us," Spencer said. "Florida is evolving."

The company's relocation of its headquarters comes just a few months after another technology related company, NeoMedia Technologies Inc., relocated to Atlanta. The company, which develops mobile marketing technology, trades over the counter for about five cents a share.

Another company, formerly known as SmartDisk Corp., sold its assets - except for its patents - to Las Vegas-based Verbatim Corp. for $9.5 million. The company still trades over the counter as SMDK Corp. at about 9 cents a share.