Almost 20 months since its opening, the Florida Innovation Hub has been making strides in fostering businesses and organizations from small startup projects.
Referenced as a “business incubator” on its website, the center provides budding companies with all-inclusive leases on office space and laboratories within close proximity to UF.
An increasing amount of tenants have joined the incubator in an effort to move from startups to well-established enterprises.
There are currently more than 24 companies occupying the center, and it will soon reach full capacity, according to a news release. Tenants of the center have created about 250 jobs to date, and a growing number of startups are expanding beyond the Innovation Hub.
“We are amazed at the volume of startups that are being generated within our community and happy that so many are choosing to get their start in the Innovation Hub,” Florida Innovation Hub director Jane Muir wrote in an email.
It is not only the companies that are growing but also the center itself. At 48,000 square-feet, the Innovation Hub is only part of the expanding Innovation Square.
The 40-acre complex is set to house the Infusion Technology Center, a building with 150,000 square-feet of space for all types of companies. The state-of-the-art living/learning community called INSPIREation Hall is set to open in 2015, according to the Innovation Square website.
Shadow Health Inc., an Innovation Hub graduate, is an organization committed to educating future health care providers by using simulations as training devices. Because of the Innovation Hub, the company has been able to move to its own location.
“After leaving the Hub with less than 10 employees, we now currently employ over 44 employees within our company located in downtown Gainesville,” Shadow Health Inc. chief financial officer Patrick Bizub wrote in an email.
He said the center fostered a collaborative environment and provided support for startup projects.
“It’s an excellent and intangible marketer for business ideas,” he said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 8/27/2013 under the headline "Innovation Hub announces creation of 250 jobs to date"
