The University of California, Davis has announced on its website that it is partnering with the non-profit organization, Area 52, to launch a new technology business incubator that will focus on ventures that are developing technological products in the areas of agriculture, alternative energy, robotics, medical devices, and aerospace.

 

The incubator formed under the Area 52 partnership will be the second off-campus affiliate within the university’s Distributed Research and Incubation and Venture Engine (DRIVE) Network, according to the UC Davis website.

 

Managed by the Venture Catalyst unit of the UC Davis Office of Research, the DRIVE Network offers startups low cost incubation space along with resources supplied by Venture Catalyst, including its Smart Toolkit for Accelerated Research Translation (START) Program.

 

Area 52 will be headed by UC Davis alumnus, Tim Keller, who was the winner of the first prize in the university’s 2008 Big Bang! Business Competition. That same year he founded VinPerfect Inc. to commercialize the SmartCap, a device that controls the oxygen content in wine bottles.

 

“Developing a tangible product is so much harder than developing a piece of software, because the costs of development are so high and because it is near impossible to find funding to create a product until you have built it,” Keller said in the UC Davis announcement of the launch. “What we are developing is something unique that allows manufacturing companies to get to the investable stage much sooner, and for less money. Partnering with UC Davis will allow us to develop a long-term, sustainable and highly innovative manufacturing sector here in Northern California.”

 

Construction and renovation of the Area 52 site is scheduled to begin in March. The 36,000 square foot facility is expected to include 20 offices, two wet labs, machine shop, composites shop, computer lab, conference rooms, a café, a gym, and dedicated areas for classes and events. The site is expected to be opened by the end of this year, allowing local entrepreneurs to rent office or lab space or purchase memberships which will give them the availability of using the workshop space.