UNHInnovation (UNHI) and the UNH InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) will begin 2016 in the recently constructed Madbury Commons, a mixed-use development of student apartments and commercial space, located at 21 Madbury Road in the heart of downtown Durham and UNH. Student apartments, which comprise the upper floors of the building, were finished in time for the start of the fall semester. With that portion of the project complete, work has been accelerated in the commercial spaces; furniture delivery and installation is projected to commence the first week of December.
A project team of Paige Smith and Tim Benoit-Ledoux from UNHI, and Erica Johnson, Lincoln Lavoie, Jeff Lapak, and Kari Younsi from the UNH-IOL are managing the move and communications with the property developers and contractors. Efforts have been coordinated with Dover design firm Manypenny Murphy and Manchester-based furniture consultants at Creative Office Pavilion to help plan the layout, functionality, and aesthetics of the shared workspace.
UNHI and the UNH-IOL will occupy the ground floor of the development, which will incorporate an open floor plan with collaborative-style workspaces throughout the area and a shared, interactive training room for education and events. The new building will also be the home for the newly-formed UNH Connectivity Research Center, a complimentary organization to the UNH-IOL, with a focus on network engineering and cyber security innovations as well as research for both government and commercial sponsors.
Alpha Loft, a nonprofit dedicated to developing early-stage, scalable businesses and commercializing the intellectual capital developed at UNH, will also relocate to our facility from their current location at 9 Madbury Road in Durham. Alpha Loft has hosted the UNHI Catalyst Seminar Series for the past two years and will continue to welcome our networking events in their co-working space, supporting their mission of building a strong entrepreneurial culture in NH.
The Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center, a co-curricular home for entrepreneurship on campus, will also be located on the ground floor. The primary focus of the Center is to cultivate entrepreneurial ventures through interdisciplinary programming and foster connections between academia and industry via the Wildcatalysts Network.
We are excited about the wonderful opportunity to work collaboratively, strengthen partnerships, and share resources with the campus community and the larger entrepreneurial ecosystem, enabling our organizations to promote on-campus research and innovations both domestically and internationally. A grand opening is being planned for Spring 2016. We hope you will join us then to celebrate our joint venture and the possibilities which will evolve from this new hub of ideas and resources.
Paige Smith
Business Manager, UNHInnovation
