Federal grant helps UF create Florida Innovation Hub

July 24, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The federal Economic Development Administration has awarded the University of Florida an $8.2 million grant to help create the Florida Innovation Hub at UF, a facility officials describe as a “super incubator.”

The 45,000-square-foot facility, slated to be built on what is now a parking lot at Shands AGH, will nurture start-up companies in much the same way as the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator in Alachua. But the Florida Innovation Hub will also become home to the university’s main commercialization efforts. The building is scheduled for completion by December 2011.

The hub will provide technology start-up companies connected with the university with office space, laboratories, conference rooms and other capabilities. In addition, it will house UF’s Office of Technology Licensing and UF Tech Connect, the main commercialization offices for the university.

“The hub will serve as a catalyst to get innovation from university laboratories into the marketplace, where it can have an impact on the world while creating jobs in Florida,” said UF President Bernie Machen, who noted that the university is contributing an additional $5 million in support.

Programs and activities at the hub will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, students and service providers to maximize the university’s ability to create technology-based companies for purposes of commercializing more of the research conducted at UF.

“The current economic downturn has shown how important it is for Florida to diversify its economy beyond tourism and agriculture,” said Win Phillips, UF’s vice president for research. “Creating this Florida Innovation Hub allows Florida to leverage UF’s massive research base for the benefit of the state as it transitions to a more innovation-based economy.”

The grant is one of the largest of its kind ever awarded by the Economic Development Administration’s Atlanta regional office, said EDA regional representative Philip T. Trader.

“We are pleased to partner on this project with the University of Florida,” Trader said. “It is exactly the type of project EDA likes to fund because of the impact it can have on helping to create jobs for the state of Florida, particularly in emerging, technology-driven sectors of the economy.”

UF is nationally recognized for its efforts to commercialize research and averages about 10 new technology-based companies each year, said Jane Muir, associate director of UF’s Office of Technology Licensing and principal author of the EDA grant proposal.

While companies located in an incubator are four times more likely to succeed than those that are not, according to the National Business Incubator Association, enhancing the incubator concept by co-locating it with the university’s main commercialization offices is a new model the university believes will yield even better results, Muir said.

“This is a super incubator,” Muir said. “By putting all the players in the same building, we expect the synergy that’s created to accelerate our ability to create companies.”

Muir added that as these companies mature in this facility and graduate into their own space nearby, they will create demand for restaurants, hotels and other businesses to serve the growing workforce.

UF’s proposal to EDA emphasized the statewide impact of the project, given the university’s strong ties to tech transfer efforts throughout the state, including joint ventures such as the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and Enterprise Florida.

“The Florida Innovation Hub is more than a bricks-and-mortar undertaking,” said David Day, director of the Office of Technology Licensing. “We envision this project will enable us to create numerous start-up companies that will locate in the Gainesville area as well as throughout the state.”

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The University of Florida conducted more than $560 million in sponsored research in 2008 and has an overall annual economic impact in the state of more than $6 billion. UF also generates more than 77,000 jobs statewide. University of Florida Research; Working for Florida.