It’s fair to say that Mike Bowman has worked to touch as many aspects of entrepreneurialism as possible through science and education in his time in Delaware. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he was one of the legions of employees brought to the First State because of DuPont. At the time, DuPont was a $1 billion global business and Bowman was traveling around the country as a top executive.
When he was winding his career at DuPont down in the early 1990s, Bowman was tapped by then Gov. Mike Castle to help establish one of the state’s first science park with the support of University of Delaware and DuPont.
He worked alongside the appointed Delaware Technology Park president for a few years, until he took early retirement from DuPont in 1998. Bowman took the advanced materials business with him to start his own business Fibrite which was eventually sold before its initial public offering years down the line. When Bowman came back to the Delaware Technology Park, there was no significant movement on the project’s construction.
“There were worries about what was going to happen with the car companies and everything else in manufacturing [that was fading] and I thought I could fix it,” Bowman said. “Immediately, I found there were several problems.”
So, in 2000, Bowman rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Within two years, he was able to strike a deal with UD and University City Science Center leadership in Philadelphia to form a joint venture for building out the park.
Within two years of Bowman taking the helm, the Delaware Technology Park built its first three buildings, and was working its way through a backlog of interested companies. The Delaware Technology Park has grown to five buildings, and in 2016 he helped launch DTP@STAR, or its satellite office at the UD STAR Campus. Today, Delaware Technology Park has a sixth building on the way and Bowman has supported a similar concept there with the Fintech Hub.
Over the years, Bowman has helped hundreds of businesses there with space and mentorship. He also was one of the key figures that helped launch The Innovation Space, as DuPont executives looked at the park as a model to replicate on their own campus.
Over time, Bowman took on another passion – entrepreneurship. He became the director of the Small Business Development Center which advises thousands of companies every year. That role filled “the last peg on the board” when it came to the business ecosystem, he said.
“When you look at DuPont and what it did, you saw all these other companies come from it. It’s like a family tree and all the pieces became their own entity. I’ve always loved the small business world. Those who start them can see what no one else can see,” Bowman said.
