News // Innovation Park

Grand opening celebration scheduled for Innovation Park

2009-10-21T15:31:00-04:00

A grand opening celebration for Innovation Park at Notre Dame, a research park that helps transform innovations into viable marketplace ventures, will be held Friday (Oct. 23) at the park’s first building, which is located at 1400 E. Angela Boulevard.

The grand opening, which will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, is an invitation-only event.

Innovation Park connects clients with key ingredients essential for successful commercialization: University resources and talent, a world-class network of market experts, and access to early-stage capital providers.

The park will be home to a variety of start-up businesses, including ventures with expected commercial applications from core University research areas, and ventures that will leverage other University strengths, including student, faculty and physical asset resources.

Notre Dame, the state of Indiana, the city of South Bend and the U.S. Department of Energy have all committed resources to develop Innovation Park.

The $13 million facility is located on 12 acres of land directly south of the Notre Dame campus and features 55,000 square feet on three floors. The building offers build-to-suit offices, custom wet and dry laboratories and virtually unlimited network band width via the region’s dark fiber network.

Innovation Park’s exterior façade was chosen to represent the color and style of industrial buildings in South Bend around the turn of the century.

Innovation Park was officially approved as the state’s 19th Certified Technology Park last year. The Certified Technology Parks program was created as a tool to support the attraction and growth of high-technology businesses in Indiana and to promote technology transfer opportunities. Designation as a Certified Technology Park allows for the recapture of certain state and local tax revenue which can be invested in the development of the park.

Contact: Ann Hastings, Innovation Park marketing manager, 574-631-8825, ahastings@innovationparknd.com

Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on October 21, 2009.

Konica Minolta Business Center Opens Doors at Innovation Park at Notre Dame

2009-10-21T10:20:00-04:00

South Bend, Ind. and Ramsey, N.J – October 21, 2009 – Innovation Park at Notre Dame and Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. announced today the opening of the Konica Minolta Business Center at Innovation Park, which will provide a full array of document management services for the innovators and entrepreneurs associated with Innovation Park at Notre Dame, as well as others in the Notre Dame community. An invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony has been scheduled for Friday, October 23, 2009 to mark the opening of Innovation Park’s first building, where the world-class business center is located.

With the opening of the Konica Minolta Business Center, Innovation Park enhances its ability to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of critical support resources and services. The Konica Minolta Business Center features Konica Minolta’s award-winning product lines of multifunctional printers (MFPs – print, copy, fax, scan all-in-one system) and digital presses.

Innovation Park’s clients are expected to be regional, national and international organizations, including those ventures in their earliest stages as well as Fortune 100 companies. Clients will include innovators and entrepreneurs drawn from the University’s faculty, student or alumni community, as well as other ventures that can benefit from access to expertise and resources available through the Park’s network.

”Innovation Park is thrilled to be partnering with Konica Minolta, a company that is committed to innovation and exceptional client service,” said David Brenner, President and CEO of Innovation Park at Notre Dame. “The Konica Minolta Business Center allows our clients to have the very best document management tools available to them, which will help them accelerate and strengthen their businesses. This kind of support is critical for new ventures. We look forward to a successful partnership with Konica Minolta, and thank them for their generous commitment to supporting business growth and innovation.”

The mission of Innovation Park at Notre Dame is to help transform innovations into viable marketplace ventures. To accomplish this mission, the Park convenes innovators throughout the entire Notre Dame community, including faculty, students, alumni and partners in the region and beyond. By bringing together the University’s intellectual assets, world-class market expertise and access to early stage capital, Innovation Park connects key ingredients essential to successful commercialization.

“The establishment of the Konica Minolta Business Center is an exciting, bold step in positioning Innovation Park as a preeminent center of technological innovation and product development in the nation,” said Kevin Kern, Vice President, Marketing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. "Konica Minolta is proud of our partnership with Innovation Park at Notre Dame, and we look forward to serving the document management needs of the community.”

To schedule a tour of the Konica Minolta Business Center or an executive interview, contact James Norberto at 201.825.4000 or PR@kmbs.konicaminolta.us.

About Innovation Park at Notre Dame
Innovation Park at Notre Dame connects innovators, market experts and capital providers to help transform innovations into viable marketplace ventures. Located adjacent to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Innovation Park connects clients with key ingredients essential for commercial success. For more information, visit the Innovation Park Web site at www.innovationparknd.com.

About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is a leader in advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop. For the second consecutive year, Konica Minolta was recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys. For more information, please visit www.CountOnKonicaMinolta.com.

Innovation Park at Notre Dame Contact
Ann Hastings
Innovation Park at Notre Dame
+1 574.210.8425
ahastings@innovationparknd.com

Konica Minolta Contact
James Norberto
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.
+1 201.825.4000
PR@kmbs.konicaminolta.us

# # # #

Konica Minolta is a trademark of Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Innovation Park prepares for opening

2009-08-20T12:05:00-04:00

South Bend Tribune
By Margaret Fosmoe, Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND — Innovation Park, the long-anticipated research park near the University of Notre Dame, is preparing to open its doors next month.

Construction on the three-story red brick building along Angela Boulevard is nearly complete. The interior is abuzz with activity, with workers recently hanging light fixtures, installing floor tiles and completing the extensive network of high-tech communications equipment.

Innovation Park is expected to be home to a variety of startup businesses.

“Everything here revolves around connecting, collaborating and commercializing,” said David Brenner, Innovation Park’s president and chief executive officer.

The facility is on schedule to be completed in late September. The administrative staff of about six and the first tenants are scheduled to move in shortly after that.So far, no tenants have been announced.

Brenner said he isn’t yet ready to release information about prospective tenants. “Those discussions are ongoing,” he said.

Of the building’s 55,000 square feet, about 30,000 is space available for lease.

A large section of the first floor, facing north to campus, is designated as the “greenhouse” — a large open room where space will be rented to entrepreneurs on a short-term basis to determine whether their ideas are strong enough to evolve into startup companies.

The greenhouse features large windows, track lighting and exposed duct work.Flexibility is the key word in the building’s interior design — it has modular walls that can be taken down and moved to increase or decrease research and office space. Chairs and desks, filing cabinets and even laboratory tables will be on wheels.

The park offers high-speed Internet service through the Metronet.

A first-floor conference room opens onto a large patio with a view toward Notre Dame. Two floors up, there’s a high-tech board room and 1,000-square-foot outdoor balcony with a panoramic view of campus and the Eddy Street Commons retail-office-housing development to the west.The board room and balcony, like many of the spaces in the building, will be available for lease to area companies and other groups. The balcony also is expected to be for lease for private functions, such as wedding rehearsal dinners.

The building includes a high-tech security system to ensure only tenants and invited visitors will be able to enter. Once inside, a person must pass through additional security checks to access specific areas.

Brenner will oversee Innovation Park. He’ll work closely with city officials, who will manage the other site — Ignition Park, on former Studebaker Corp. land southwest of downtown South Bend.Innovation Park is expected to be in use around the clock.

It includes several dry and wet laboratories that can be leased by the day or week by entrepreneurs or area companies.

The second floor now is a large open space punctuated only by steel support beams. It will be predominately offices and dry laboratories, with spaces finished to suit specific tenants. The third floor will have more offices and wet labs, also tailored to the needs of tenants.

The wet labs are expected to be a big draw for entrepreneurs and established businesses alike. It’s not easy or cheap to find leasable wet labs in this region, Brenner said, saying many companies have to go to the Chicago area to use such spaces.

“We’re trying to accommodate everyone from a raw startup all the way to a Fortune 500 company,” Brenner said.Innovation Park is modeled after a variety of research parks, said Brenner, who has visited more than 20 parks across the country.

The most successful research parks have common characteristics, he said, including: flexible space, security, confidentiality for tenants, nearby access to a research university and a medical school, and access to convenient retail, restaurants and housing.

By the time the first Innovation Park building is fully occupied in several years, it could house more than 100 workers on a daily basis. Planning is under way for a second building that will be built south of the first.

Prospective tenants don’t have to have ties to Notre Dame, but many of them will, Brenner said. “You typically don’t move into a research-tech park unless you want to engage with faculty experts,” he said.

The $15 million building was built with a $2 million construction grant provided by the state of Indiana, as well as other state, federal, city, Notre Dame and private donor money. Brenner declined to provide a breakdown of how much came from each source.The park has a long-term lease for the land, which is owned by Notre Dame.

Innovation Park is managed by a private non-profit corporation that is a fully owned subsidiary of Notre Dame. Other area colleges will be encouraged to get involved there through faculty research, student internship opportunities and jobs for graduates.

When football fans arrive in town next month, many may be surprised at the dramatic changes south of campus. The development of Innovation Park is one piece of a transformation under way in South Bend, Brenner said.

“This park is a key part of that change, but we’re not the only change,” Brenner said. The changes include Innovation Park, Ignition Park, growth at Notre Dame, development of Eddy Street Commons and expansion of Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend.

“We’re creating,” Brenner said, “an innovation ecosystem.”

Universities and Angel Groups Explore Working Together to Further Entrepreneurship

2009-08-02T20:38:00-04:00

Universities and Angel Groups Explore Working Together to Further Entrepreneurship

Source: Angel Capital Education Foundation Newsletter

In March, representatives from angel groups and private and public universities from across the US participated in a mini-conference organized and hosted by the Office of Technology Transfer and the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program of the University of Arizona. The goal of the forum was to review best practices and explore models for interactions between universities and organized angel groups.

“If you are an angel and you think about Google, Genentech, or Amgen, you think, boy, I ought to be at a university watching what is going on,” says conference attendee Bob Okabe, angel investor and managing director of RPX Group in Chicago. “But when you get in there, you find that there can be a wide variance between your goals as an investor and the objectives that the university might have.” RPX Group works with universities, research labs, and corporations to create startup companies from their innovative technologies.

The Arizona mini-conference came about as an outgrowth of a grant that the University received from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to study and experiment with a model for structured, reproducible interaction between universities and angel investors.

“The University of Arizona and Desert Angels of Tucson have been in a partnership since 2007 to increase the flow of lower-risk startups from university research and development into commercialization,” says Patrick Jones, director of the Technology Transfer Office at the University of Arizona in Tucson and mini-conference host.

“Part of our approach was to make it a learning exercise and then to share our learning with other universities and angel groups. We were amazed at the number of different patterns of engagement represented, from formal to informal,” Jones says.

Angels and universities share some goals but priorities and focus differ

“What came out of the meeting is that there is no one right way to interface as an angel with a university or as a university to interface with angels,” says Okabe. “While angel investors have three relatively consistent objectives—to make money, participate as mentors and board members in the startups they fund, and foster development of new businesses and jobs in their communities—universities can have multiple and diverse goals.”

Conference participants identified numerous university goals, including the support of basic research, faculty recognition, and satisfaction with the support and progress of faculty discoveries and inventions. There is the educational aspect of getting students involved, giving them a real-life entrepreneurial experience. Economic development may also be a goal, especially for state-run universities. Universities typically also seek a financial return from licensing the intellectual property, just as angels do by participating in equity.

“This broad range of benefits and goals can create challenges for angels,” Okabe says. “While angels might vary on the level of participation and desire for community gain, their primary objective is to make a certain return on their investments. For many universities, providing a neat learning experience, supporting faculty members, and raising the quality of the students and school can matter as much as creating a financial return. This can make it difficult to pin down a universal strategy.”

At the conference, Okabe reported on a recent RPX Group study of thirty universities. The range of investment in research that generated a startup at the respondents ranged from $30 million to $300 million. The study found that while most respondents had programs that included an office of technology transfer, a business incubator, a technology park, networking events, and business plan competitions, there was no correlation between the number of programs a university had and the rate of startup formation or success.

“Everyone is following a kind of play book,” Okabe says, “but the results vary widely.” He likens it to following the instructions on a cake mix box.

“Everyone who follows the instructions will get a cake, but each cake will be different. Some will be delicious and others not so tasty,” he says. “Environments are different; things don’t always go swimmingly,” he says. “We can’t be so proud that we baked a cake that we don’t care about how it tastes. One of the benefits of this mini-conference was to hear about different ways to adjust the recipe. As angels, we have to understand that every university is different. There is no single answer. We have to try and figure out an approach that works and then take the initiative.”

Desert Angels and University of Arizona create a model to commercialize lower risk deals

The University of Arizona and the Desert Angels have formed a partnership that Jones says looks like an options fund to the angels and a research contract to the University. Called the Arizona Enterprise Program, the arrangement structures angel involvement in University projects; provides an agreement and terms that fit the business models of both parties, and attempts to match business and technical risks before a company based on University technology is formed.

A key element of the partnership is the Desert Tech Fund. The fund invests the money to build proof-of-concept, proof-of-application, or prototypes with intellectual property coming out of the University. The fund then has the option to create a company based on licensing technologies that prove successful and scalable. Desert Angels manages the fund. Participation is voluntary at a target of $25,000 per unit.

Jones says it is too early to evaluate results. “We have learned that there cannot be too much educating on both sides,” he says. “Project selection is key, and determining the scope, size, and right level of due diligence is tough. It’s been a very good interaction so far, and we have learned a lot. We have to get a few more technologies further down in the pipeline to see how this will come out.”

IrishAngels and University of Notre Dame share commitment to education and Notre Dame DNA

“IrishAngels is connected to the University of Notre Dame, with elements of separation as appropriate,” says Theresa Sedlack, director of Private Sector Engagement at the Innovation Park at Notre Dame.

All IrishAngels are accredited investors, but investing is an optional aspect of membership. The primary mission of the network, which was formed in 2000 and has grown from fifty to 265 members across thirty-five states, is education and mentoring. About 70 percent of IrishAngels members participate in educational activities; about 35 percent are investors.

“There is no hard and fast time requirement, but more a willingness to give back in terms of providing the kind of mentoring and participation that can make or break a process,” Sedlack says. “Our members serve as adjunct professors and guest lecturers through the University’s Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. They greatly enhance the student’s entrepreneurial education by judging business plan competitions, creating and provide internship opportunities and providing career advice for Notre Dame students.”

A variety of University entities have current or expected future involvement with IrishAngels including a business plan competition and an annual fall investment forum, now in its sixth year. “The forums have grown incrementally in quality, number of attendees, ventures, and the funding that those ventures have received,” Sedlack says.

A defining characteristic of potential deals continues to be an affiliation with Notre Dame, described as the presence of Notre Dame DNA, versus the geography or industry filters that are seen with most angel groups.

In addition to funding executed through the IrishAngels network, investment has come from seed funds and Fish Taco Ventures (FTV), an entity wholly independent of the University yet aligned in mission, which manages funds comprised primarily of investors who are IrishAngels network members. FTV manages an early stage fund and a more advanced angel fund.

“Significant process improvements have been made in the past two years to put some distance between the educational and funding processes,” Sedlack says. “This separation allows time for both the entrepreneurs and prospective investors to consider their interests and be disciplined in their evaluation of opportunities going forward.”

IrishAngels network members are expected to play a significant role in the newly created Innovation Park at Notre Dame, a commercial accelerator under construction just south of Notre Dame’s campus. Members of the group will provide valuable market expertise for ventures located in the Park, and the Park will present the network’s investment forums.

Angels and universities see potential in the entrepreneurial ecosystem

“What I see is that both groups of people—angels and universities—believe in their communities and want to see them succeed,” Jones says. “These activities aren’t the responsibility of any one group. All these things involve people and building a network and bridges to give each side a new appreciation for the other.”

Continuous interaction builds working knowledge between all sides of both groups and contributes to success. “The main requirement seemed to be a framework where real people have real things to do together. That is not a surprising return in certain ways. It’s like any business, the more you interact, the better you will understand your business partner,” says Jones.

“The right match,” says Okabe, “may be where the angel group understands that the university doesn’t necessarily speak with one voice and may have multiple goals—sometimes set by the chancellor, the technology transfer office, or individual faculty members—and the university understands and is respectful of angel group’s primary goal of return on investment.”

Material presented the mini-conference are available at http://ott.web.arizona.edu/UniversityAngel.php.

Innovation Park Newsletter: July 2009

2009-07-19T15:22:01-04:00

Innovation Park Newsletter: July 2009

Metronet’s Lightning-Fast Data Transmission Spurs Economic Growth

2009-04-13T12:04:01-04:00

SOUTH BEND, Ind., April 13, 2009 — If the rapidly growing GramTel data services company is any sort of an indicator – and South Bend civic officials hope it is – the St. Joe Valley Metronet will serve as an economic stimulator and attract high-tech firms for years to come by providing virtually unlimited bandwidth while saving them money.

GramTel, a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, opened a second data center in South Bend last fall, and may build a third here later this year. That’s due in large part to its success in using Metronet, a 40-mile, dark optic fiber infrastructure system that loops around South Bend and offers state-of-the-art telecommunications.

“Metronet has definitely helped our growth,” says Rich Carlton, a GramTel vice president. “It permits us to purchase bandwidth at a lower cost so we can keep our expenses down, offer increased connectivity speed, boost reliability and go to voice-over IP technology much more cost effectively.”

Metronet is run as a non-profit corporation and now has 40 subscribers. They include companies like GramTel, which provides disaster recovery/business continuity, backup, data storage and co-location services to companies around the country. If a company faces an emergency and loses access to its information technology systems, GramTel’s backup systems allow it to keep operating.

Other Metronet subscribers include regional hospitals, medical clinics and other institutions – including the University of Notre Dame. Through a network of transcontinental fiber pipes, Metronet links its subscribers to each other, as well as to its own locations and other institutions around the globe.

Mary Jan Hedman, Metronet’s director, says she hopes Metronet may one day draw huge firms like Google or Yahoo to South Bend.

“If one of those companies located a data center here, it could save them tens of thousands of dollars in annual operating costs,” she says.
In physical terms, Metronet lies deep below the ground. Its fiber links to long-haul trunk line points-of-presence that extend across the country. Telecommunications service vendors provide their own high-performance equipment that can take full advantage of Metronet’s fast speeds.

Here’s an analogy that illustrates how Metronet works.

If Metronet were Germany’s Autobahn, then Metronet’s vendors would be like tour buses on the Autobahn, zooming along at ultrafast speeds. And to take the Autobahn analogy a step further, the numerous passengers are like Metronet’s data, reaching destinations in record time. By comparison, typical data networks are like small passenger cars on two-lane roads with 50 mile-per-hour speed limits, carrying fewer people (or data) at much slower speeds.

Carlton says that without Metronet, his company wouldn’t have opened a second data center in South Bend’s Blackthorn Corporate Park last fall.

At the grand opening of the new data center at Blackthorn, South Bend Mayor Stephen J. Luecke lauded GramTel’s expansion and said it “helps us to tell our story about the infrastructure we have in place to support high-tech companies.”

Carlton says his company chose South Bend to start and expand because of its proximity to Chicago. GramTel’s corporate headquarters is also located in South Bend.
“At roughly 90 miles from the Windy City, South Bend is far enough away to be safe, yet close enough to still be drivable,” says Carlton, whose company was started in 2000 and has used Metronet since its founding.

He says other factors that make South Bend attractive include the low cost of power, the reduced cost of living, the low cost of bandwidth and the ability to connect back to Chicago easily.

The links with Notre Dame and the workforce it creates and fosters also make South Bend “a great location for a technology based businesses like us to locate,” he adds.

Civic officials believe Metronet will be one of the factors that entice research-based start-ups to set up shop in South Bend’s dual-site, state-certified technology park in South Bend: Innovation Park at Notre Dame and Ignition Park.

Though GramTel has clients around the country, Carlton says the bulk are located in nearby Chicago.

“With Metronet, we have invested in long-haul connectivity between downtown Chicago and Metronet,” he says.

“So companies can send data on a shared connection into our centers and connect to their systems in Indiana from Chicago for very inexpensive rates compared to what they would have to spend if they went to other parts of the country.”

Carlton says the second data center was built in South Bend mainly because so many Chicago firms “were seeing the benefit of having disaster recovery in South Bend.”

Officials at Notre Dame say Metronet has been a boon to research and teaching efforts at the university, which supported Metronet’s creation. Metronet allows the university to transmit an average of roughly five terabytes of data a day – the equivalent of about 7,406 CDs.

“Like many universities, our research and staff are in locations well beyond the footprint of our campus in South Bend,” says Dewitt Latimer, Notre Dame’s chief technology officer and deputy chief information officer.

He said Metronet helps faculty and staff share huge amounts of data for research projects. It also allows on-campus researchers to hold real-time video conferences with their counterparts in far-flung locations such as Antarctica or even multi-site meetings with scientists working in Africa.

“We maintain several gig links to connect with our national and international peers,” he says. “We also have disaster recovery and hot sites at three data centers spread throughout South Bend and we maintain redundant links to all those facilities.”

By using Metronet instead of a commercial carrier, Latimer says the savings to Notre Dame have been “substantial.”

“As you go through any initiative and start costing things out, it seems like high-speed networking is always one of those (financial) deal breakers,” he says. “Disaster recovery is a good example.

“There are lots of schools that would love to have a secondary data center, disconnected from their campus. But the second you throw in the networking component, it becomes very problematic and very expensive so a lot of schools just don’t do it.

“By not being burdened with those expensive networking services, it allows us a lot of freedom to execute and do things we might not otherwise be able to do,” he says.

Innovation Park Newsletter: March 2009

2009-03-12T17:32:01-04:00

IPND Newsletter: March 2009

Turning breakthroughs into products

2009-03-09T17:47:01-04:00

Innovation Park to help move medical research into the marketplace

By GENE STOWE
Tribune Business Weekly

A workshop on Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research last week at the University of Notre Dame included sessions on commercializing university research, the kind of translation that Innovation Park will foster and eventually graduate to Ignition Park.

Participants heard that university basic research is increasingly important because private labs once sponsored by large companies such as AT&T have closed or moved toward more immediately marketable product development.

Anantha Shekhar, director of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (ICTSI), said the number of university intellectual property licenses to startup companies is growing rapidly.

About 15 percent now goes to such companies, with 55 percent to small companies and 30 percent to large companies. Still, out of some 400 new discoveries a year, about 200 new patents are filed but only about 100 patents are issued.

“You have a large number of disclosures that sit in someone’s office, someone’s file cabinet, for years,” Shekhar said.

Innovation Park is designed both physically and conceptually to move those ideas into the marketplace, President and CEO Dave Brenner told the workshop. The park will connect research with market experts and those who can provide early-stage capital.

The first building, about 55,000 square feet in three stories now under construction across Edison Road from the campus, will open in the fall on the 12-acre site. The goal, Brenner said, is an “innovation ecosystem.”

“This whole building is being designed for collaboration,” he said. The space includes a large open “greenhouse” with desks on wheels for easy re-arrangement when groups gather for brainstorming.

It also includes wet and dry labs, direct access to the Metronet, tax-free status in the park, build-to-suit office suites, fully equipped conference room and access to university resources.

The park, owned by Notre Dame as an investment in research, will bring together not only entrepreneurs and researchers but also Notre Dame alumni and the more than 250 people in the IrishAngels investment network – people in 35 states and industries that include biotechnology, orthopedics and information technology.

Participants will have access to market expert assistance, accelerated business formation, milestone development to measure progress, financing strategies, management team formation, target market identification, early-stage capital and human resources strategies.

They will also have opportunities to collaborate with neighbors in the building, solving problems over coffee in the greenhouse, as well as professional service providers such as lawyers, accounting and tax experts and insurance advisors.

College of Science Dean Gregory Crawford, who has been involved in launching two companies based on university research, said researchers are increasingly following the example of Louis Pasteur, conducting basic research with an eye to its potential use, rather than drawing a sharp division between pure research and application.

“Doing applied research makes you a better basic researcher,” said Peter Kilpatrick, dean of the College of Engineering .

Notre Dame is launching a new major, the Engineering, Science, Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master’s Program (ESTEEM), a collaboration among science, engineering and business.

Last year, a “speed-dating” evening at Memorial Hospital ’s Innovation Café brought together clinicians and university researchers to brainstorm about possible collaborations.

“We’re going to be seeing a lot of this in South Bend,” Crawford says.

Along with Innovation Park, the ICTSI will help with the collaboration and commercialization.

The ICTSI, started last May with a grant from the National Institutes of Health, is a collaboration of Notre Dame, Purdue University and Indiana University aimed at accelerating the transfer of scientific breakthroughs to the market – “a statewide laboratory for transforming health sciences research and health care delivery,” Shekhar said.

The inefficient process of moving drugs from bench to bedside, for example, now costs hundreds of millions of dollars and typically takes more than a decade, he said.

Translational research involves the steps between fundamental discovery and application in clinical medicine, while clinical research involves studies done on human subjects.

Professor Mayland Chang, of Notre Dame’s Walther Cancer Research Center, who has taken a drug to market during her career that includes years in the pharmaceutical industry, told participants that of 5,000 to 10,000 compounds considered for drug use, only about 250 make it to preclinical trials, five to clinical trials and one to the market.

Forty percent of drugs that fail do so because of poor pharmacokinetics, she said. They do not function properly in the body, where they need to be absorbed into the bloodstream, distributed to the proper site, metabolized efficiently and effectively, and excreted, without toxic effects.

University researchers can solve those problems with compounds, adding value to their intellectual property, then contract with medical schools for clinical trials.

Notre Dame’s Office of Technology Transfer helps researchers identify discoveries that could qualify for patents and other legal protections.

The ICTSI is involved in further translational work, including extensive series of clinical trials, systematic reviews and analyses, and dissemination and implementation of research, helping health care systems and insurers adopt best practices and avoid unnecessary treatments.

Increasingly, the choices about spending health care dollars are based on empirical evidence, Shekhar said, and the approach is becoming more individualized – considering the specific patient rather than the class of disease.

Drugs typically work for about 60 percent of patients, have no benefit for 30 to 35 percent, and have adverse effects for about 5 percent, he said.

The emerging field of pharmacogenetics could help identify genetic risk factors that explain why some people react poorly to drugs that are highly beneficial for most people.

The approach will require data and DNA from hundreds of thousands of patients, a complicated process that requires collection of biological specimens in a way that does not identify their source and identification-scrubbed patient records to protect privacy.

Informatics capacity and supercomputers will help meet the challenge of analyzing the vast amounts of data, Shekhar said: “The computational capabilities are increasing.”

Bob Bernhard, Notre Dame’s vice president for research, said the university’s increased involvement in addressing social needs reflects an evolving role for the institution.

“Universities are the place in the United States where the hardest problems are going to be solved,” he said.

Inventive Growth: South Bend Developing a High-tech future

2009-02-28T11:29:00-05:00

Click here to see a .pdf of the article: BizVoice March.April

Notre Dame Builds Momentum in the Life Sciences: Inside INdiana Business

2009-01-29T20:03:01-05:00

When Rev. Edward F. Sorin founded the University of Notre Dame, he provided timeless words of guidance that continue to shape the institution 167 years later. Sorin’s statement that Notre Dame “will be one of the most powerful means for doing good in this country” is a guidepost for university leaders as they intensify the school’s efforts in the life sciences—efforts that will ultimately fulfill Notre Dame’s mission by using the study of science to improve the lives of human beings.

“Basic human health is part of the Catholic tradition,” says Gregory Crawford, dean of Notre Dame’s College of Science. “We do a lot of science for humanity and science for society. If you look at the various aspects of what we do, we’re really trying to better the lives of people. That’s the bottom line.”

The university has increased its research efforts in the last decade, with external funding doubling since 2000, now standing at $83 million annually. The dramatic surge in research activities, including life sciences research, created a glaring need for physical space where scientists could translate their discoveries into viable commercial opportunities. Innovation Park at Notre Dame, a research park the university began building in the fall of 2008, will provide that critical space.

“The mission of Innovation Park can be expressed in three simple words: connect, collaborate and commercialize,” says Innovation Park President David Brenner. “We want to connect the university’s intellectual assets with market expertise from the private sector, as well as provide access to early stage capital.”

The park’s first facility, a three-story, 54,000-square-foot building adjacent to campus, will be completed in the fall of 2009. Brenner expects about one-third of it to be used for life sciences research and businesses. The building’s entire third floor will house “wet labs,” which are typically used for life sciences research.

As new ideas move into commercialization at Innovation Park, university leaders envision start-up business “graduating” to Ignition Park, which will be the second portion of Indiana’s first two-site State-Certified Technology Park when it’s complete. Ignition Park will be located in South Bend’s historic Studebaker Corridor, which was once a hotbed for the automotive industry. The decaying buildings currently at the site will be cleared by the end 2010 with construction following.

“Research doesn’t just end with publication in a journal, it can go on and improve the lives of others,” says Crawford. “Innovation Park will create more translational value for basic research. We also believe the park will be a great economic stimulus for Northern Indiana.”

In addition to Innovation Park, several projects within the College of Science are creating momentum for life sciences research at the university. One of the most unique programs is the Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases. Crawford says the recent hire of center director Kasturi Haldar has created newfound focus and energy for the project.

“The center looks at diseases not many people in the world are researching,” says Crawford.

Currently, the center’s primary focus is researching Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NP-C), a genetic, cholesterol storage disorder that primarily strikes children, causing death before or during adolescence. Crawford says NP-C has special meaning for the Notre Dame “family;” well known and beloved Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian’s three youngest grandchildren died while battling the rare disorder.

Fueled by new funding, the university’s Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease is also ramping up research, primarily focused on malaria.

“We have great strength at the university in global health and infectious disease,” says Crawford. “It’s a very large group that’s largely in the Department of Biological Sciences, but there are connections and collaborations throughout other colleges on campus, like engineering.”

Modern computing power is also bringing new growth and increasing capabilities at the university’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Biocomplexity.

“At the Center of Biocomplexity, they’re able to tackle very difficult problems related to the biosciences and medicine that you couldn’t tackle in the past,” says Crawford. “Rather than doing a huge number of experiments, computer power allows us to set up models that are predictive, and then we can try to validate those predictions.”

As momentum continues to build in the university’s life sciences research and Innovation Park becomes home to future discoveries that could benefit the human race, university leaders believe Notre Dame will continue the legacy of its founder who envisioned a school with “powerful means for doing good.”

South Bend's Legacy of Innovation Sparks Ignition Park

2009-01-06T12:02:01-05:00

Innovation Park’s sister site named

The 83 acres southeast of Sample and Chapin streets in the former Studebaker Corridor will be home to a portion of Indiana’s first two-site State-Certified Technology Park

It shall be called Ignition Park.

It has been a place where the City of South Bend has mounted Indiana’s most aggressive environmental restoration effort to remove decaying buildings of its rust-belt past, where the legacy of Studebaker Corp. haunted the memories of a previous generation of workers yet inspired others with its reputation for quality, reliability and innovative style.

Now, the 83 acres southeast of Sample and Chapin streets in the former Studebaker Corridor will be home to a portion of Indiana’s first two-site State-Certified Technology Park with Innovation Park at Notre Dame, which is now under construction on 12 acres along Edison Road across from the University of Notre Dame campus.

It is a place where efforts are under way to invest millions in resources to capture a portion of the projected $1 trillion U.S. nanoelectronics industry, especially research emerging from the Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND) at Notre Dame, the newest of four national research centers funded by the nation’s leading computer chip makers.

Mayor Stephen J. Luecke unveiled the name for the 83-acre Sample Street site in a news conference today, culminating a communitywide contest that drew 250 entries to rename the site that was home to the Studebaker portion of South Bend’s legacy of innovation.

“Ignition Park signals that this site will spark the creativity of researchers and engineers into the commercialization of new innovative products that we have yet to imagine,” Luecke said. “The name draws on the city’s legacy of innovation and heritage in the automotive industry, yet points to our future as a launching pad for nanotechnology and other high-tech ventures.”

“I am enthusiastic about South Bend’s future and cannot imagine a name more fitting for the Studebaker Corridor than Ignition Park. This name recalls the successful economic history of South Bend while also sparking a strong interest in South Bend’s remarkable high-tech economic resurgence through the naming and development of Ignition Park,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, congressman from Indiana’s Second Congressional District. “I applaud Mayor Luecke and his team, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as South Bend continues to prosper and grow.”

“All forward movement begins with ignition,” said Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future, an economic development catalyst for the greater South Bend area. “Innovative individuals and a skilled workforce drove 150 years of development in this community. This name represents a resurgence in local inventiveness, a signal that, as a community, we are returning to our roots.”

A “tipping point” in the decision to locate MIND at Notre Dame for the nation’s leading computer chip makers was the strong partnership between the City of South Bend, Notre Dame and the state of Indiana, according to Jeffrey Welser, Ph.D., director of the Semiconductor Research Corp.’s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative.

“The establishment of Ignition Park, along with Innovation Park, demonstrates that South Bend and Notre Dame are following through on their commitments. You are not just talking about doing things – you are actually doing them,” Welser said. “Together, South Bend and Notre Dame are taking bold steps toward transforming this area into a great source of technological innovation and product development in the future. When I look back to March 2008 when we announced the location of MIND in South Bend, and when I look at the progress that has been made since then, including establishing Ignition Park and Innovation Park, it reaffirms – without any doubts – that we made exactly the right decision.”

The collaborative relationship between Innovation Park at Notre Dame and Ignition Park in South Bend is highlighted by the new name. Companies formed at Innovation Park are expected to graduate to Ignition Park, yet continue to receive support services and other benefits from being part of the same state-certified technology park. While Innovation Park will facilitate commercialization for all forms of research, Ignition Park will focus on nanotechnology commercialization of MIND-inspired concepts as well as on other high-potential technologies and ventures, including many emerging from Innovation Park.

“Innovation Park is designed to be a transformational space conducive to the commercialization of new ideas, and a place that provides clients with many of the ingredients needed for real-world success,” said David Brenner, president and CEO of Innovation Park at Notre Dame. “Ignition Park will be a place for these ventures to put down roots and grow their businesses once they are ready to leave Innovation Park. We are so pleased to be able to offer our clients a place to ignite’ in the area, and are looking forward to many years of close collaboration.”

The Mayor also presented prizes to the winners in the public name competition. Although the final name emerged from a community review process, two public submissions were selected for their contribution to the process.

Jeremy Pinckert of Explore Media in Elkhart, Ind., received first place for MINDworks
Paul Pedersen of South Bend received second place for South Bend Nano2
Prizes include an iPod Nano (8 gigabytes), a $100 iTunes gift card and a suite at Coveleski Stadium for a South Bend Silver Hawks game.

Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564

Indiana tells tech park YE$: Certification for Innovation Park at ND means big money

2008-09-26T10:30:00-04:00

South Bend Tribune – South Bend’s economic future is being carved out of a 12-acre triangle of sandy earth on the city’s northeast side.

With a formal groundbreaking for Innovation Park at Notre Dame set at 3:30 p.m. today, city leaders heard the news late Thursday that the project has been approved as Indiana’s 19th state-certified research park.

That’s big news for the region. State-certified research parks are able to capture up to $5 million in the growth in payroll and sales taxes generated in the park to invest there. And a $2 million state grant will help with construction costs.

Innovation Park will be based near Twyckenham Drive and Edison Road, just south of the University of Notre Dame.Community leaders and educators are full of hope that ideas launched at the research park will attract entrepreneurs, jobs and new industry to replace the Midwest’s fading reliance on traditional manufacturing. They expect new job opportunities in health care, aerospace research, nanotechnology and other fields.

“Innovation Park has the opportunity to be a great economic driver for our regional economy,” South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke said. “It has the opportunity to transform the economy by bringing good-paying and clean jobs.”

Innovation Park will be home to a variety of start-up businesses, including expected commercial applications from the new Notre Dame-based nanotechnology venture.

The first building will be done by next fall. It will be a three-story, 54,000-square-foot brick structure with laboratories, collaborative areas, conference rooms, offices and incubation facilities.

That building will cost $14 million to $15 million, and Notre Dame is paying nearly all of that cost.The first building is expected to house 15 to 20 start-up companies. No tenants have been announced.

Innovation Park formally includes the site on Edison Road, 83 acres downtown along Sample Street (in the former Studebaker Corridor), the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend and some office space in the Eddy Street Commons development south of campus.

As new ideas launch at the main site, they are expected to “spin off” as new businesses or production facilities at the other locations.

For community leaders, it’s been a long road to today’s ceremony.

Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future, remembers first discussing the idea of a research park with Notre Dame administrators 25 years ago.Community leaders realized that, for such a project to succeed, Notre Dame would have to commit as a major player, he said. At the time, the university was focused primarily on undergraduate teaching. In recent years, Notre Dame’s leaders have directed enormous attention and huge sums of money to building up the university’s graduate programs and research.

McMahon cited a long list of Notre Dame accomplishments that led to this moment: expanded science, engineering and medical research; hiring of top administrators with research experience at other top schools; a new $70 million engineering building under construction; winning the bid to lead the nanoelectronics venture; and generous university grants to pay for the most promising faculty research projects.

Innovation Park will be managed by a private non-profit corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of Notre Dame. Other colleges will be encouraged to get involved through faculty research, student internship opportunities and jobs for graduates.

The research park is intended to be an idea factory and a collaboration ground. It’s designed to concentrate entrepreneurs in one place so they meet, talk and collaborate.

“We kid that we are the eHarmony of innovation,” park director David Brenner said, referring to a popular dating Web site.The state has never before granted a research park $2 million before construction, Indiana Secretary of Commerce Nate Feldman said. “It’s because we view this opportunity with the University of Notre Dame,” he said, “as such a huge opportunity for economic development in the Michiana region as a whole.”

By MARGARET FOSMOE Tribune Staff Writer

Innovation Park at Notre Dame: Notre Dame Magazine

2008-07-10T15:40:01-04:00

You might not call it love-hate, but the relationship between Notre Dame and South Bend has always mixed wariness of each other’s faults and a pragmatic recognition of Notre Dame’s role as a major employer and all-around economic engine. Football weekends, for instance, pump millions of dollars into the local economy, but people who live near campus and don’t have football tickets know that game days and the traffic mess they create are something simply to be tolerated.

“The very fact that we had to pass an ordinance to create a community-campus advisory coalition to assure communication on a regular basis about neighborhood issues such as game-day problems says it all,” says Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand ’73J.D., South Bend Common Council attorney.

The relationship is soon to change in a dramatic way that could not have been imagined even a few years ago. The key to the transformation will be Innovation Park at Notre Dame, for which ground is to be broken yet this summer. The research facility has the potential, in the near future, to transform the University and the surrounding community into one of the great economic developments of this generation, not just in South Bend or the Midwest but in the United States and, perhaps, the world.

University, City, Project Future to build Innovation Park

2007-10-22T13:00:01-04:00

The University of Notre Dame, the City of South Bend and the regional economic development organization Project Future have joined forces to develop a technology incubator on a site immediately south of the campus between Eddy Street and State Route 23.

David Brenner, an entrepreneurial executive with some 30 years of experience, has been appointed director of the project, which will be called Innovation Park at Notre Dame, and construction of the first building is expected to begin in the spring and be completed by the summer of 2009.

“Hiring Dave Brenner and the development of a plan to build Innovation Park have truly resulted from a team approach which has involved the private sector, city and state government, and the University,” said Thomas G. Burish, Notre Dame’s provost. “We are optimistic that our partnership will result in a successful effort. Similar parks associated with other universities in the state and around the country have proven to be wonderful means for encouraging research, taking innovative ideas to the marketplace, creating industry-university relationships, and for spurring economic growth.”

The city has made a $1 million commitment to the project, using resources returned from the Business Development Corp., according to Mayor Steve Luecke.

“I’m especially excited about the entrepreneurial creativity that will emerge from this place, as researchers from different disciplines interact and dream,” Luecke said. “South Bend has a strong heritage of innovation – from Studebaker and Bendix to Crowe Chizek, Press Ganey and the South Bend Chocolate Co. – and Innovation Park will continue to build on that great entrepreneurial spirit.”Project Future has had the development of a technology park in the region among its priorities for several years, according to executive director Patrick M. McMahon.

Project Future has assisted with organizing and advancing the discussion of the park within the community and provided funds for development of the business and architectural plans. It also will help underwrite the staffing expenses associated with Innovation Park’s early operations, he said.

“When this park is completed, it will have significant long-term benefits that will continue to percolate and send ripples through the community’s economy,” McMahon said.

Like similar ventures nationwide, Innovation Park will provide space for Notre Dame faculty and students, as well as others from higher education and the private sector, to develop and commercialize start-up business enterprises – many but not all related to the sciences, engineering and technology. The proximity to campus will allow for easy access to University laboratories, technology, libraries and other resources. Faculty and staff associated with the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Notre Dame also plan to take an active role in moving ideas forward.

Financial and operational details are still to be finalized, though projects with potential have been identified as early occupants of the park. In addition to the $1 million commitment from the City of South Bend, support is being provided by the Medical Education Foundation of South Bend and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation through its Certified Technology Park program.

Brenner, a 1973 Notre Dame graduate, has been associated with the Gigot Center as an adjunct instructor and as a member of the Irish Angels, a network of Notre Dame alumni and friends who are experienced in entrepreneurial endeavors and interested in supporting new venture development.

“With nearly 30 years of experience in leading successful start-up companies, acquisitions, partnerships and divestitures, Dave brings precisely the kind of background and energy necessary to take this new initiative and turn it into reality,” Burish said. “I could not be more pleased that he has accepted our offer to lead Innovation Park at Notre Dame.”

Brenner currently is founder and managing partner of IdeaWorks, a start-up incubator/accelerator firm in Grand Rapids, Mich., that assists early-stage entrepreneurs transform promising ideas – particularly in high tech, durable and consumable consumer, and medical products – into successful new enterprises.

From 1991 to 2000, Brenner worked for Amway Corp. in Ada, Mich., the last two years as founder and president of Amway Ventures, Inc., which developed and rolled out independent business ventures.

Prior to Amway, he worked in a variety of management positions for Kellogg Co. in Battle Creek, Mich., including the final three years as president of U.S. subsidiaries and corporate vice president. Brenner held earlier positions in his career with Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

Brenner was selected as Innovation Park’s first director by a committee composed of Burish, McMahon, Robert Bernhard, Notre Dame’s vice president for research; John Sejdinaj, the University’s vice president for finance; Jeffrey Kantor, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Notre Dame and former vice president of graduate studies and research; Chris Murphy III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of 1st Source Corp.; and Phil Newbold, president and chief executive officer of Memorial Hospital and Health System.