The Delaware Innovation Space formally opened a new $6 million lab space area for early stage science companies at an event last week with more than 120 attendees.
Government, education and business leaders in attendance spoke about the importance of startup companies for today’s economy along with the importance of supportive state and federal policies that provide resources needed to lift startups from formation & proof of concept to becoming growth businesses.
Innovation Space CEO & Bill Provine kicked off the event by noting the enhancements to DISI.
“We have transformed a building originally built for one company, the DuPont Merck joint venture, and have created what you see here today – a highly interactive, collaborative, and supportive environment for many startup companies,” Provine said.
According to Provine, the renovation enhances the ability of DISI to grow and scale these companies, potentially into the next large scale employers like a DuPont, Agilent, Gore, or Incyte. He spoke of building “companies that will last for generations and ultimately employ thousands of employees and will be future cornerstones of our community.”
Assistant Secretary of the US Dept of Commerce and head of Economic Development Administration John Fleming spoke about the importance of driving growth of local economies and job creation. “What has lifted mankind the most over time has been innovation and increased productivity, and America does that best”
The EDA provided $3 million in funding to create the new private lab pods & collaboration spaces to give early-stage science companies with the tools and capabilities to startup and scale-up into successful businesses.
Delaware Governor, John Carney said, “new discoveries, new jobs, and new businesses are more likely to spin out of a facility like this than to be driven by some of our bigger corporate citizens in our state.”
According to Provine, Innovation Space programs have actively supported over 30 companies, which enabled the growth or retention of over 240 jobs with an average salary of over $100,000 a year, with client startup companies have raised over $120 million in private investment to date.
University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis highlighted two recent success startup success stories, starting with W7 Energy.
W7 is a company focusing on developing advanced fuel cell materials to create price parity with traditional gasoline engines, the company was just awarded over $4 million from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E grant program.
Assanis also spoke about MCET Technologies, a new spin-out from UD which just won a DuPont sponsored competition for free space at Delaware Innovation Space for a year. Assanis said DISI is “going to help our entrepreneurs become more creative, become more successful, and we’re happy to have our students come to the incubator and work with the companies and create a wonderful ecosystem within our state.”
For more information on the new Lab Pods visit https://deinnovates.org/lab-pods/
