UF’s Innovation Hub will double in size after receiving an $8 million federal grant.
The grant, awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration on Tuesday, along with $9 million in funding from the university, will allow the startup business incubator to begin construction on a second phase of its building in early 2016.
The 50,000-square-foot expansion will be similar to the existing building with office space and laboratories for startups to use, said Jane Muir, director of the Innovation Hub.
Muir said expansion has always been a goal for the hub, and when the first phase of the building reached capacity, she began applying for funding.
"We believe that the potential here in Gainesville is so great," she said. "We knew that if we proved ourselves with phase one, there would be a lot more opportunity."
Construction is expected to last between two to three years.
In addition to office space, the new building will also include an Entrepreneurial Woman’s Center to provide mentoring and resources to women-led startups, which Muir said were woefully underrepresented in the boom of technology startups.
"We do have a couple of women-led startups, but our goal is to ultimately get more," she said.
Sixty-one technology-based companies have gotten their start at the hub, which opened in 2011.
They have raised more than $50 million in private investments and created more than 700 jobs, said Muir.
Some of the startups, like Shadow Health, have gone on to base their companies in downtown Gainesville.
Angelina Howell, CEO of Anthrographic, said beginning her company at the hub was instrumental for her business.
The software company, which specializes in gathering environmental data, has mostly West Coast clients, but remains based in Gainesville for the resources and support the university has been able to provide.
"The Innovation Hub has the winning formula, and I think they are proving it through their ability to get grants," Howell said. "I think it’s going to change the face of Gainesville."
Muir said the ultimate vision is for the hub’s graduating startups to work with private developers to build their companies along Southwest Second Avenue in the 12 acres of land known as Innovation Square.
"We hope Gainesville will be able to retain more of the bright young minds educated at the University of Florida," she said, "and that the community will become recognized as a place that is using innovation to make great things happen."
