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Spotlight: Discovery on Parade
For the first time in history, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Community College, and Florida State University came together to showcase the best and brightest research and technologies being developed by students and faculty at the inaugural
Discovery on Parade event.
Wall-to-wall exhibits spanned across two floors of the Augustus B. Turnbull III Conference Center and brought in hundreds of prominent community and business leaders, researchers, and students who learned how local innovation makes a global impact. Performances by FSU's Quattro Stagioni String Quartet, Theatre TCC! singers, FAMU's Jazz Ensemble, TCC's African Drum and Dance Ensemble. FAMU's famous Marching 100 delighted both guests and exhibitors and ushered them into Main Tent Event, where attendees heard from each of the three institutions for higher education and the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County.
Perhaps most thrilling was the concentration of Innovation Park-related organizations present at the event. Nearly the entire Leon County Research and Development Authority Board of Governors attended and were given the opportunity to interact with creative minds and, in many cases, prototypes of their research. Several former participants in the Innovation Park Technology Commercialization Grant program were exhibitors, including one of the most recent winners,
Proper Channel. Other Innovation Park exhibitors included the
Florida Center for Reading Research,
High Performance Materials Institute,
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering,
Center for Intelligent Systems, Control, and Robotics (CISCOR),
Center for Advanced Power Systems,
Bing Energy,
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory,
Center for Information Management and Educational Services (CIMES),
Florida ExpertNet, and
Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research.
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2016 Innovation Park TechGrant Competition Begins This Month
The 2016 TechGrant (formerly known as the Technology Commercialization Grant) will launch this month. The program was first launched in 2005 to demonstrate its commitment to supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Leon County. Since then, 20 companies have benefited from $362,000 in grants awarded for the commercialization of their technologies. Most of these companies are still flourishing in the local community today.
In addition to a cash prize of up to $15,000, winners are awarded with scholarships to attend the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County's Entrepreneurial Excellence Program and are granted exclusive access to the TechGrant Winners' Circle, a quarterly gathering of past grant recipients that facilitates networking and collaboration.
To learn more about the program and to download an application, visit our
website.
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Leon County R&D Authority Embraces New Year with Strategic Plan, New Leadership
On November 3, the Board of Governors of the Leon County Research and Development Authority (LCRDA) conducted a Strategic Planning Workshop to begin writing the next chapter in Innovation Park's story. The workshop lasted five hours and covered topics like governance, economic sustainability, communications and public relations, property development and management, and developing innovation, collaboration, and commercialization activity.
The reason for the workshop, explains Chair Anne Longman,was to harness the energy created by recent big steps forward at Innovation Park: the contributions of the Board, including several new members, and the present solid financial status of the Park. "Thanks to strong leadership by previous Chair Kristin Dozier, the Park now is poised to take on new challenges, leveraging its real estate assets and its expertise."
The workshop comes after several recent notable successes in Innovation Park.
In July, the National Park Service Southeast Archaeological Center (SEAC) renewed its lease of more than 17,000 sf and announced preliminary plans for an expansion. The current lease, which secures its location in Innovation Park for another 10 years, allows the SEAC to conduct and disseminate the highest quality archeological research, interpretation, and collections management in the Southeastern United States. The expansion would provide additional repository space for the archeological collections and related archives of 67 national park units spanning nine southeastern states and two U.S. territories, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
October 2014 marked 20 years since the dedication and official opening of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab). The National MagLab continues to be the largest and highest-powered magnet lab in the world with new record-breaking magnets facilitating exciting discoveries. In the last year alone, more than 1,400 researchers came to conduct experiments at the National MagLab. Specifically, a MagLab chemist has determined how the flu virus tunnels into cells, which could pave the way for new treatments. Other researchers working at the MagLab identified a material - samarium hexaboride - that behaves as a conductor and an insulator at the same time.
Materials research into single layer materials like graphene and phosphorene are offering unique insights into a possible electronic revolution.
Also in October, the LCRDA greeted the new fiscal year by appointing new members to its Board of Governors. Anne Longman now serves as Chair, Tom Allen serves as Treasurer, and Dave Ramsay continues to serve as Vice-Chair. A new position, Immediate Past-Chair, is filled by Commissioner Kristin Dozier.
Danfoss held a groundbreaking ceremony in December for their $14.3 million expansion. The new laboratory will expand the existing Danfoss facility, which houses the engineering and manufacturing of world-class and award-winning Danfoss Turbocor oil-free, magnetic bearing compressors, and will improve access to lab space for HVACR equipment manufacturers designing the next generation of residential and commercial air-conditioning equipment that achieves higher energy efficiency levels and meets environmentally-friendly refrigerant targets. This will be the third Danfoss Application Development Center in the world - the first located in North America.. Ten full-time, high-level technical/engineering staff with an expected annual average wage of $74,758 will be hired because of the expansion.
"Having served on the board for five years and as chair for the last three, I am excited by the progress we have made and the future potential of the Authority and Innovation Park," shares Immediate Past Chair and Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier. She credits a thoughtful and engaged Board of Governors who has reorganized the Authority into a dynamic organization that is ready to invest in Innovation Park, expand business growth and job creation through commercialization, and will provide essential resources for entrepreneurs and businesses who want to connect with the important research happening in Leon County.
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Get Social with Innovation Park
Like us on
Facebook, follow us on
Twitter, and watch us on
YouTube for the latest updates from Innovation Park.
We also have an app for Innovation Park enthusiasts. Download it today for food truck schedules, Park events, and more!
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LCRDA Board of Governors Members Talk Success, Future Development with WFSU Perspectives
On January 14 at 11 a.m., tune in to WFSU, Tallahassee's local public radio, to listen to an exclusive interview with select members of the Leon County Research and Development Authority's (LCRDA) Board of Governors. Executive Director Ron Miller and select members of the LCRDA Board will join Tom Flannigan to discuss what's hot in Innovation Park and what exciting developments you might see in the near future.
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Florida State University Receives $100M to Create the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship
Florida State University announced on December 18 the largest gift in its history - $100 million - from Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation to honor the late Jim Moran and create what will be the nation's largest interdisciplinary, degree-granting school of entrepreneurship.
The Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship will stand alone, offering and greatly expanding the entrepreneurship courses currently taught in the College of Business and making them available to all FSU students.
"Gifts of this magnitude have an enormous impact on a university and change the landscape for generations to come," said FSU Board of Trustees Chair Ed Burr. "The Florida State University Board of Trustees is thrilled to approve the naming of this new school, and the entire FSU family is deeply grateful to Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation for their support of entrepreneurial education."
FSU President John Thrasher called the gift "transformational" and said entrepreneurial education in Florida and across the country will never be the same.
A significant portion of the gift, he said, will continue to fund the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, which has a long, 20-year history of serving entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout Florida. The Jim Moran Institute will remain administratively in the FSU College of Business and continue its extensive outreach mission to help bridge real-world entrepreneurship practice with entrepreneurship education provided through the new school.
"At Florida State, we are focusing hard on graduate success," Thrasher said. "The Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship and the Jim Moran Institute, in conjunction with Florida State University, will become the focal point for collegiate entrepreneurial education and the lifeline for training and assistance to entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits. The continuation of Jim Moran's generosity is an investment in our students, our businesses and our state."
"Jim believed 'The future belongs to those who prepare for it,'" Jan Moran said. "With this gift, we forever secure the legacy of Jim Moran and his passion for supporting entrepreneurism so that current and future generations will have the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. I'm excited about the positive impact that the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship will have on the student entrepreneurs as they embark on their lifelong entrepreneurial journey, creating and growing successful businesses and creating jobs throughout Florida and beyond.
"FSU is proud to partner with The Jim Moran Foundation and Jan Moran to create the largest entrepreneurial school in America," said Tom Jennings, vice president for Advancement and president of the FSU Foundation. "We are grateful to Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation for their vision, their commitment to quality and their support of entrepreneurship at FSU and beyond. Our students and the thousands of individuals they
will influence and serve during their careers will benefit from this incredibly generous gift."
"Virtually every profession demands a certain level of entrepreneurial thinking, but very few students actually gain entrepreneurial training and experience before they graduate from college," said Michael D. Hartline, interim dean of the College of Business.
"Florida State is changing that. Because of the vision and generosity of Jim and Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation, Florida State students will have the unique ability to study and practice entrepreneurship from a valuable perspective in the arts, sciences, humanities, education, communication, law, medicine and, of course, business."
Florida State currently offers an undergraduate major and minor in entrepreneurship, with both housed in the College of Business. The demand for these programs is very strong and growing, Hartline said. Simultaneously, as a part of its Entrepreneurial University Initiative, FSU also has embedded 28 entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) across campus in 12 of its 16 colleges.
The Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship will reside under Provost Sally McRorie and operate much like a college. The school's director and other staff members will be housed in a building in downtown Tallahassee, very close to the state capitol, local businesses and statewide associations. The Jim Moran Institute also will relocate to the same building. The prime location will ensure that the Jim Moran name is front-and-center with respect to entrepreneurship around the state. The school is expected to become the go-to resource for government leaders, trade associations, entrepreneurs, nonprofits and small businesses on a national level.
The official launch date of the school is scheduled for Aug. 8, 2018 - which would have been the 100
th birthday of Jim Moran. Between now and then, FSU faculty members and the entrepreneurs-in-residence will work to create the interdisciplinary curriculum.
The university anticipates a phased approach to the development of the school leading up to 2018. It is expected that the number of entrepreneurship majors and minors will grow dramatically and that the program will admit several hundred majors by the third year.
Thrasher said FSU looks forward to grand opening day with excitement and gratitude.
"We are ready to build on the legacy of Jim Moran to create a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the state of Florida, the region and the nation."
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Innovation Park in the News
Danfoss:
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering:
'Discovery on Parade' Event Showcases Local Innovation, FAMU, FSU, TCC Join Forces in Research Showcase, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Selected for Entrepreneurial Program, FSU, FAMU and TCC Team Up to Showcase Local Innovation, Danfoss Turbocor Breaks Ground for Tallahassee R&D Facility, FAMU, FSU Graduates, Get Set to Turn Those Tassels, Higher Education Leaders Look Ahead to 2016
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory:
High Performance Materials Institute:
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