Sirti, a state-funded economic development agency located on the Riverpoint Campus here, says it has added three new on-campus clients and expects to have another this summer.

The three companies that arrived recently are research-tool provider EFRsource Inc., database developer Guerilla Development Co., and Barr-Tech LLC, which is helping to develop a bio-related industrial park near Sprague, Wash. The fourth company, SiteCrafting Inc., announced in April that it planned to open an office here and will lease space at Sirti in July.

"With the graduation of high-growth clients and arrival of expanding technology companies, it's clear the cycle of innovation remains strong at Sirti," says Kim Zentz, Sirti's executive director. "Our new on-campus clients will enhance their products and expand their markets in an environment perfectly suited to help them continue their productive growth."

EFRsource offers research services and technology tools it says reduce the cost and time needed to reach consensus on solutions to complex issues faced by governmental and private-sector organizations. Its Web site says it practices a social science method called "ethnographic futures research."

The company moved into the Sirti Technology Center, at 120 N. Pine, in April. It has three employees and is leasing 690 square feet of space in the building, which is located on the south side of the campus, says Sirti spokeswoman Linda Hemingway.

Guerilla Development, a custom software-development company that specializes in database-driven Web applications for school districts, began operations at the Sirti Building, at 665 N. Riverpoint, in April.

Hemingway says Guerilla employs 10 people and plans to hire more staff members as its business grows. It is leasing 2,150 square feet of floor space there.

Most school districts store large volumes of data, from class rosters to bus routes to graduation criteria, on separate, and sometimes complex and difficult-to-access storage mediums, she says. Using Guerilla's products, school districts can improve services, efficiency, and communications, Sirti says.

Barr-Tech LLC moved to the main Sirti Building recently, says Hemingway. Barr-Tech, together with the Odessa Public Development Authority, is developing what's to be called the Barr Regional Bio-Industrial Park, a clean-technology project that will recycle organic material and convert it into renewable energy and compost. Hemingway says Barr-Tech employs one person and is leasing 150 square feet of space in the Sirti Building.

The publicly owned industrial park will be located near the city of Sprague, about 37 miles southwest of Spokane, and is a joint effort between public entities, private developers, and clean-technology companies. Hemingway says that when the project is completed, it will create jobs, improve renewable energy efficiencies, provide commercial recycling opportunities for local companies, and reduce regional carbon emissions.

SiteCrafting Inc., a Tacoma, Wash.-based Web-site design and Web application company, will lease about 700 square feet of space in the Sirti Building .

Hemingway says SiteCrafting's office here will open with five employees, but the company plans to have 10 employees at Sirti within a year.

SiteCrafting designs Web sites for businesses, and also builds Web-management tools for them.

With the four new clients, Sirti will have 71 clients, including some that occupy space in one of its two buildings at Riverpoint and others that are located elsewhere in the Inland Northwest, its Web site says.

Sirti is a collaboration between business, higher education, and government intended to accelerate the development and growth of technology-based companies in the Inland Northwest.

It says its target clients have defensible intellectual property, large market potential, and are seeking to grow. Sirti's two buildings have a total of 40,000 square feet of space with labs and light manufacturing potential along with service offices and a modern information-technology infrastructure.

Sirti offers business coaching and management assistance, as well as access to capital. Sirti's staff members provide expertise in technology assessment, market research, strategic planning, marketing, finance, and management for both start-up and high-growth businesses.