Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator
| Established | 1990 - Facility opened Fall 1995 |
|---|---|
| Director | Mark S. Long |
| Location |
Alachua, Florida near Gainesville, Florida |
| Website | sidmartinbio.org |
The University of Florida's Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator is located in the City of Alachua - 20 minutes northwest of UF's Gainesville campus. The program's mission is to foster the growth of bioscience startup companies that have some relationship to the University. The Incubator works with companies in all product areas relating to the life sciences, biomedical research, medicine, and chemical sciences. They also created and maintain the Florida Biodatabase, a free, searchable, online database with information on every bioscience company in Florida.
History
The Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Institute (SMBI) was officially founded on July 2, 1990 by the Florida Legislature. It was named after Sid Martin, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, in recognition of his commitment to the state of Florida and the University of Florida. In 1994, the Trustees at the University of Florida authorized 6 acres (24,000 m2) to build the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator.
The Incubator is 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) and was built with a combination of funding from the University of Florida, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Florida Legislature. The facility was created, engineered, equipped, and opened in 1995 as one of the first bio-business incubators in the United States. Approximate cost at that time was $11.5 million. The facility is located just outside Gainesville, Florida in the Progress Corporate Park. Much of this research park was built by the vision of former University of Florida President, Robert Q. Marston.
Resident Companies
Sid Martin Biotech supports a wide range of bioscience companies including clean tech, diagnostic, therapeutic, drug delivery, genomic, bio-medical device, agbio, biofuels, and others. The Incubator can host up to twelve resident companies at the facility. Information on current and graduate companies, which include AxoGen, Inc., Pasteuria Bioscience, Inc., and Banyan Biomarkers, Inc., among others can be found on the incubator's website. To date, Sid Martin Biotech companies have attracted more than $1 billion in equity investment, contracts, grants, and M&A activity.
Graduate Companies
Over 28 biotechnology startups have graduated from SMBI and become self-sufficient companies or were acquired. Some of them include: Applied Genetic Technologies Corp, Bio Energy LLC, Celunol (merged with Diversa as Verenium then acquired by BP Biofuels), EcoArray Inc., EnCor Biotechnology Inc., EraGen Biosciences (acquired by Luminex in 2011), Integrated Plant Genetics Inc., Nanomedex Inc., Nanotherapeutics Inc., Oragenics Inc., Oxthera Inc., Sharklet Technologies Inc., SunPharm Inc. (acquired by GelTex which was acquired by Genzyme), Universal Air Technologies Inc. (acquired by Lennox Industries), and Xhale Inc. which spun out Hygreen Inc.
International Recognition
In an international contest in 2013, Sid Martin Biotech won the National Business Incubator Association's Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year, Technology Focus and also the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award. The Incubator assists newly created life science companies by providing physical space, equipment, business guidance and connections with prospective investors.