UMLSTP Launches Shared Office, Lab Space

MIAMI—As shared workspace gains momentum, University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park (UMLSTP) is serving up a unique concept in the R&D world: shared lab and office space. Wexford Science & Technology is aiming to foster collaboration and innovation among early-stage research firms.

UMLSTP has executed a lease agreement with Right Space Management to operate and manage The Miami Innovation Center, the first shared space of its kind in the Southeast U.S. and only the fourth nationwide. Boston, San Francisco, and St. Louis are home to similar facilities. Scheduled to open in July 2012, the complex will include 40,000 square feet of shared office and lab space on the first and third floors of the UMLSTP’s first building.

“There is a cluster effect materializing at the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park and across the Miami Health District, fueled by innovators from the private sector and nearby research institutes,” Bill Hunter, leasing manager for the UMLSTP, tells GlobeSt.com. “The Miami Innovation Center bolsters that dynamic, affording South Florida’s growing number of technology and life science companies an affordable, accessible home base where they can jumpstart their work and collaborate with other teams.”

Companies in the Right Space Innovation Center will work side-by-side, sharing discoveries and finding synergies across areas of study. This marks a welcome shift from the traditional closed-door lab model, according to Carolina Rendeiro, CEO of Right Space Management, the operator that will lease and manage the facility.

“As demand for co-working environments grows, we anticipate more and more research-driven companies will seek shared space that opens the door to networking and new business opportunities,” Rendeiro said in a statement. “The Miami Innovation Center appeals to both Miami-based firms interested in establishing a presence within South Florida’s newest research facility, as well as new-to-market companies looking to leverage Miami’s diversity and the Health District’s wealth of resources.”

The announcement coincides with news that the UMLSTP has signed its newest international lab tenant: Denmark-based research firm Glycom, which will occupy space within The Miami Innovation Center. Denmark’s Glycom is working to commercialize human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), expanding to Miami and the U.S. from Copenhagen with its presence at the UMLSTP.

The Miami Innovation Center adds another layer of benefits, providing infrastructure to budding companies, according to Richard Schuchts, managing partner at SQFT Capital, the commercial real estate brokerage firm that represented Right Space Management in the lease. “The Miami Innovation Center offers robust technologies, fully-built out lab and office space, and educational and social programming that encourages dialogue among tenants,” Schuchts tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s a winning option for start-up companies that have good ideas but limited growth resources.”