Innovation Districts and Innovation HubsDr John Breslin, NUI Galway

“Innovation districts constitute the ultimate mash up of entrepreneurs and educational institutions, start-ups and schools, mixed-use development and medical innovations, bike-sharing and bankable investments—all connected by transit, powered by clean energy, wired for digital technology, and fueled by caffeine.”-- Brookings, The Rise of Innovation Districts

What’s an innovation district?

● Coworking space: A shared office space where startups rent desks or take periodic/temporary desk space called “hot desks”

● Incubator: An organisation that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training or office space

● Accelerator: Fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day - typically office space and seed funding of up to 50k is given to each company

Innovation Hubs can house...

● In the US:○ Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cambridge, Cleveland,

Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Diego, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Seattle

● Worldwide:○ Manchester, Sheffield, Barcelona, Berlin, London,

Medellin, Montreal, Seoul, Stockholm and Toronto

● Ireland:○ Innovation District in Galway○ Also Innovation Hubs in Westport, Sligo,

Skibbereen, Drogheda, more emerging...

Where is this happening?

Visiting the San Diego Innovation District

Don’t wait for five or ten year

plans: pick a building, show

that it can house an

innovation hub, through its

success grow into other

buildings and spaces nearby

Right in a town or city centre,

attractive location for

companies, walkable to the

transportation hubs, cafés

and restaurants, colleges,

etc.

Hold open workshops in a

shared area to skill up local

companies and the

community in emerging tech

(cloud and web frameworks,

app development, etc.)

Allow companies to co-work

in a space that allows them

to leverage each other’s

expertise, bounce (ideas) off

each other, collaborate with

and mentor others

Incorporate if possible one or

all of the following spaces to

make stuff: hackerspace /

makerspace, fab lab, science

gallery, etc.

Have a hot desk area for

short-term visitors to the

city, so that they can

experience what it’s like to be

a local, and hopefully apply

for citizenship later on

Lean approach

Location is key

Community focus

Co-working space

Make and create

Visitor friendly

Some of the principles

The Home of Innovationin the West of Ireland

Maurice O’GormanChairman, GCID

24companies employing64 people

30 community

events

21 industry events

15innovation

events

2 games jams

1hackathon

13additional

jobscreated

2000+visitors

Opened in May 2016

What’s next?

● Accelerator launch: Q1 2017

● Live streaming of events

● Second building: The Stables 2018

Pre-start Start-up Early Stage Later Stage

Course

Competitions

Coworking

Incubator

Accelerator

Incu

ba

tio

n

Active Seed

What is needed?

● Supports for accelerators

● Early stage access to capital