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An T�naiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney TD
participated at the 'topping-out' ceremony of the first phase of UCD's new Innovation Centre, NOVA on Monday 7 October 2002.
The NOVA Innovation Centre is located on a site at Merville House on the Belfield Campus (enter off Fosters Avenue) and is due to be completed in February of next year. This initial phase of development will consist of 2,850
sq.m. including space for over forty incubation units. NOVA will be managed by the University Industry Programme at UCD.
The NOVA Innovation Centre will result in a ten-fold increase in the incubation space available to campus companies at UCD. NOVA will nurture new knowledge intensive, mainly high-technology enterprises and will create an environment in which innovation and technology transfer can flourish. The funding of the first phase of NOVA
(10m Euro) has been committed by a public/private partnership which includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte &
Touche, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, Xilinx Ireland with UCD. Seventy-five per cent of the funding is being invested by the private sector partners.
In addition to the strong public/private partnership, NOVA will have many other unique features. The NOVA founding partners, particularly the professional service organisations and Enterprise Ireland, along with other partners, such as FR Kelly, will work in partnership with the University Industry Programme in assisting new ventures locating at NOVA and in supporting technology transfer and innovation across the campus.
In addition to providing incubation space for new ventures, entrepreneurs at the pre-incorporation stage will be provided with desk space and related services at NOVA. Plans are also in hand for a new venture laboratory, which will focus exclusively on the design and development of new businesses. It will offer high-speed access to data for new ventures and introductions to experienced entrepreneurs who will act as "sparring partners" to ensure that the ventures are realistic and viable. Companies will also be facilitated in entering overseas markets through an international network of innovation
centres. NOVA will also support companies from the Hatchery, which has been established by UCD's Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business to assist participants in the MBA Programme to set up their own businesses.
The first occupants are expected to take up residence in NOVA in March of 2003. Work on Phase II of NOVA, the refurbishment of Merville House itself, will commence in Summer 2003. The overall NOVA project will be built in four phases comprising a total area of 8,000
sq.m.
For further information contact Mic�al Whelan, Communications Officer, University Industry
Programme, UCD (tel: 01 716 1770, e-mail:
miceal.whelan@ucd.ie).
Issued by the Office of Public Affairs, UCD. 3 October 2002.
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