Dozens of invited guests from state government and industry joined UConn administrators and faculty on Friday at the inaugural UConn Tech Park Symposium. The event served to celebrate the completion of the first phase of construction at the Innovation Partnership Building (IPB) and highlight the facility’s high-tech equipment and unique capabilities.
Construction began on the $132 million, 113,700 square foot building in October 2015. As the anchor building of the future UConn Tech Park, the IPB will provide industry and academic scientists with state-of-the-art research space and access to $40 million worth of specialized equipment. To date, 10 major industry partners have committed over $80 million in funding to support on-going and future research collaborations.
“We have been privileged to receive this investment from the state and our industry partners. We have been privileged to form strong relationships with our stakeholders,” said Radenka Maric, UConn vice president for research and former executive director of the UConn Tech Park. “The progress and partnerships we see today are because people at the university and in industry took action. Now it’s time to envision all the possibilities still ahead of us.”
Maric was joined in welcoming guests by others from UConn’s senior leadership, including Provost Jeremy Teitelbaum, dean of the School of Engineering, Kazem Kazerounian, and current IPB executive director, S. Pamir Alpay. All reiterated Maric’s message of gratitude to state officials and contributing partners and enthusiasm about leveraging the IPB to continue to position UConn as an innovation cluster.
