The Innovation District is a comprehensive ecosystem of places, programs, and people all working
together to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning.
The
Innovation District brings together bright minds from every discipline across
campus. It is designed to take on challenges from multiple angles, shape
discoveries into marketable solutions, provide customizable problem-solving,
and educate tomorrow’s creators to be skilled, experienced, and versatile.
Through this, it will drive economic development with novel solutions shared
with the world.
It’s about collaboration. It’s about finding solutions. It’s about innovation that changes lives.
Where is the Innovation District?
Where is the Innovation District?
The heart of the Innovation District is developing along the interface of UGA’s North Campus and downtown Athens where the district can grow alongside the Classic City’s vibrant art, music, and food scenes.
This area includes Studio 225, the new home for UGA’s booming Student Center for Entrepreneurship, as well as the Innovation Hub, aimed to expand faculty entrepreneurship and industry engagement. Terrell Hall houses both the Office of Industry Engagement and Innovation Gateway, which leads UGA’s research licensing and startup efforts. Meanwhile, the Small Business Development Center is located at382 E. Broad St.
However, the Innovation District is more than a physical footprint or set of buildings. It’s a comprehensive ecosystem connecting programs and people across campus and town to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning.
Our Vision
A long-term framework plan was developed to imagine the potential growth of UGA’s Innovation District over time. The black structures are conceptual buildings that could accommodate any number of users and uses, including:
Office and lab space, including step-out and traditional leasable space.
Entrepreneur-in-residence offices, information center, and other centralized Innovation District resources.
Shared equipment and common collaboration and meeting spaces.
Areas for industry partners to embed in the Innovation District.
Multi-use innovation plaza/green space for outdoor events and activities.
Studio 225
Studio 225 is the home of UGA’s booming Student Center for Entrepreneurship.
Opening in the spring of 2019 in a renovated warehouse on West Broad Street, Studio 225 connects students of all majors to entrepreneurship programs, spaces, funding, and mentors. Studio 225 includes:
Opening in January of 2021, the Hub provides a creative space at the heart of North Campus and downtown Athens, where faculty, students, community members, and industry partners can collaborate and innovate on commercial projects. The Delta Innovation Hub hosts a wide variety of programs and services for startups:
382 E. Broad Street is houses the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) which provides tools and training for the community’s small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs.
The SBDC helps community entrepreneurs in the following areas:
Supported by The Delta Air Lines Foundation, the Student Industry Fellows Program (SIFP) cultivates innovation competencies among UGA graduate and undergraduate students and fosters mutually beneficial industry partnerships. A signature program within UGA’s Innovation District, the SIFP is part of a unique ecosystem of talent, creativity and infrastructure that brings students from a range of disciplines together to solve emergent and pressing challenges through unique, cross-disciplinary courses and experiences.
Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture
Global agriculture must expand food production 70% by 2050 to meet the demands of an increasing population and a decreasing resource pool.
To address this global challenge, UGA is proposing an Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture, as the next phase of capital development for Innovation District, to create technologies, tools, and resources that sustainably improve agricultural productivity through increased yield, fewer inputs, and reduced risk.
The Institute will leverage technology advancements in sensing, robotics, data analytics, and artificial intelligence with genetic and chemical advances to build a more sustainable global supply of food and fiber and position the University of Georgia and the State of Georgia as leaders on the world stage.
1 Press Place
1 Press Place houses the Office of Business Engagement, industry’s front door to UGA talent and resources.
Between our accomplished alumni, renowned faculty, groundbreaking research and high-caliber students, businesses have plenty of reasons to want to partner with UGA, and the Office of Business Engagement helps make that happen. OBE helps businesses to achieve their goals for research and development, talent recruitment, and philanthropic giving.
Black structures are concepts for future development.
Goals of the District
The vision of the Innovation District is to become a leading driver of economic development and community impact through innovation, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning.
The Innovation District is being developed to
achieve five long-range goals:
Accelerating research commercialization to enable our ideas and inventions to make the greatest impact on society.
Increasing experiential learning opportunities to develop our students into versatile problem solvers who are ready for the jobs and challenges of the knowledge economy.
Expanding university-industry collaboration to leverage the strengths of academia and business for developing creative solutions.
Elevating public and private investment to provide our entrepreneurs with funding and mentorship to turn their ideas and inventions into successful ventures.
Connecting campus and community entrepreneurs and innovators to strengthen the creative culture and technology-based economy of our community.
