The new Innovation Partnership Building (IPB), scheduled to open in the fall of 2017, will mark a new milestone in UConn’s legacy as a leading public research university. The $132 million building will provide researchers access to 115,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research space and over $40 million worth of specialized equipment.
The IPB will be a focal point for ongoing and future research partnerships between UConn scientists and some of Connecticut’s – and the nation’s – leading businesses and industries. The list of partners includes the United Technologies Corp., General Electric, Comcast, Pratt & Whitney, Eversource, and Fraunhofer Inc.
“This facility is an exciting development not only for UConn but for our entire state,” UConn President Susan Herbst said. “The resources being built by UConn and our industry partners are helping to strengthen Connecticut’s economic future by connecting leading industries with outstanding research facilities in Storrs, UConn Health in Farmington, and in New Haven.”
The IPB will offer large, flexible laboratories and highly-specialized equipment not readily available to industry. Teams of world-class academic researchers, private industry scientists, and business entrepreneurs will work collaboratively within the facility to develop innovative new technologies in energy, electronics, materials science, additive manufacturing, microscopy, cybersecurity, and other fields.
The leading-edge building will house the UConn FEI Center for Advanced Microscopy and Materials Analysis, one of the most advanced microscopy centers in the country as part of a partnership with FEI/Thermo Fisher Scientific, a worldwide scientific instrument maker. It will also pull in facilities that already exist at the University, such as the Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center, Eversource Energy Center, UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering, Comcast Center of Excellence for Security Innovation, Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation, and the UTAS/UConn Center for Advanced Materials.
The resources within the IPB building will also support and expand existing entrepreneurship efforts at the University, according to Radenka Maric, CT Clean Energy Fund Professor of Sustainable Energy and professor in the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.
“Our goal is to enhance what already exists through UConn’s Technology Incubation Program or TIP. When TIP companies grow out of their incubator space and are ready to move on to the next level, we hope to be able to provide space for them within the Tech Park. We also expect to receive interest from entrepreneurial companies outside of campus,” said Maric, who will begin serving as UConn’s Vice President of Research in July.
