UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator was recognized as a national leader in technology-based economic development in the eyes of the State Science and Technology Institute.
The incubator accepted the 2014 Excellence in Technology-Based Economic Development award Monday at the SSTI’s Annual Conference in Chicago
SSTI is an organization that had policy makers and people from 42 states placing its five awards.
The incubator program won the award for its ability to commercialize technologies, said Patti Breedlove, UF Sid Martin Biotechnology director.
“That means that we are one of the players here locally that helps research, from the university and other places, turn into relevant products and services to make the world a better place,” she said.
The incubator is a 40,000-square-foot bioscience complex located in Alachua, which houses scientific equipment and greenhouses.
Mentors, investors and other experienced professionals come together at the facility to grow and shape their ideas into game-changing products, from gene therapy to green energy to safer agricultural products. It has already created 2,000 local jobs.
“We’re able to help these researchers go from two, three guys in a lab to a company that eventually goes on and grows on its own into a huge company,” said Nathalie McCrate, marketing coordinator for the incubator.
Breedlove said the program has blossomed recently, with its companies attracting more than $1.2 billion in funding. This is the incubator’s fourth notable award in two years.
“The wonderful thing about it is that every time this happens to one of our organizations in the county, it just helps put the whole Gainesville area on the map,” Breedlove said. “For people to know that this is a great town to do bio-tech and tech. That’s one of the benefits of an award like this.”
Breedlove said the award reflects well on the university.
“It draws attention to the enormous amount of high-quality research going on at UF,” she said, “and UF’s sophistication and being able to create start-up companies based on that technology.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 9/17/2014 under the headline "UF Sid Martin incubator gets award"]
