Offered at the discretion of the director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Businesses that qualify as "targeted businesses" may qualify for three special incentives designed to help new, knowledge-based businesses in their early years.

These discretionary incentives are for start-up companies in emerging sectors:

  • A refund of sales and use taxes paid on the purchase of building materials and machinery and equipment associated with the approved project
  • A transferable income tax credit equal to 10% of payroll for up to five years
  • A transferable income tax credit equal to 33% of eligible research and development expenditures

The income tax credits earned under this program may be sold upon approval by the Economic Development Commission.

Eligibility

Companies must meet the following requirements and do business in one of the six targeted emerging technology sectors listed below:

  • Be less than 5-years old Have an annual payroll between $100,000 and $1 million
  • The business must show proof of an equity investment of at least $250,000
  • Pay at least 150% of the lesser of the state or county average hourly wage where the business is located
  • Meet requisite payroll thresholds

Emerging technology sectors are:

    • 1. Advanced materials and manufacturing systems, with emphases on the following:

1. Photonics

2. Nanotechnology

3. Electronics manufacturing

4. Environmental issues related to material and manufacturing

    • 2. Agriculture, food and environmental sciences, with emphases on the following:

1. Rice

2. Poultry

3. Aquaculture

4. Toxicology

5. Agricultural medicine

6. Forestry

7. Nutrition

8. Waste minimization

9. Energy reduction

10. Distributed energy generation

11. Spatial technology

  • 3. Biotechnology, bioengineering and life sciences, with emphases on the following:

1. Genetics

2. Oncology

3. Geriatrics

4. Neuroscience

5. Medical devices

6. Rehabilitation

7. Biopharmaceuticals and drug discovery

8. Protein structure and function

9. Cell molecular biology

10. Sensor technology

4. Information technology, with emphases on the following:

1. Knowledge and data engineering

2. Database systems

3. Distributed systems

4. Wireless systems

5. Software development

  • 6. State of the art applications of information technology to:
  • 1. Bioinformatics
  • 2. Healthcare
  • 5. Transportation logistics, with emphases on the following:
  • 1. Intelligent material handling
  • 2. Automated systems
  • 3. Transportation management systems
  • 6. Bio-based products, with emphases on the following:
  • 1. Biodiesel
  • 2. Ethanol
  • 3. Methanol
  • 4. Synthetic crude oil
  • 5. Adhesives
  • 6. Polymers
  • 7. Automotive components
  • 8. Engineered products from non-traditional biomass sources
  • If a business falls within one or more of the targeted areas, additional eligibility criteria are:
  • The business must have an annual payroll of not less than $100,000 or more than $1 million
  • The business must show proof of an equity investment of at least $250,000
  • The business must pay wages that are at least 150% of the lesser of the state or county average wage where the business is located

If a business meets all of the above criteria, the director of the Economic Development Commission may offer the business additional incentives.

Source: Arkansas Ecomomic Development Commission