TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- Innovation Park is being dubbed as North Florida's hub for world class research and emerging technology.
"We're developing some great resources here," says Ron Miller, the executive director of Leon County Research and Development Authority. "We're looking at how we're going to develop some business incubation capabilities to support the new businesses."
It's been more than 30 years since Innovation park began construction and has continued to grow through the help of local universities.
"We've got a ton of great research resources out here that have been built over the last 30 years by FSU and FAMU," continues Miller. "Now, we would like to try to attract more private sector companies to come in who can take advantage of those resources."
It's those very same resources that allowed for the Panacea Oyster Co-Op to grow their business by networking with others at Innovation Park.
"This is a new industry," explains Robin Olin, the CEO of the Panacea Oyster Co-Op. "It has never been done like this in our state. We have to communicate and network with other people who are creative and fearless, so that's why we're here. That's why we work so well with these folks."
The next challenge is to get more businesses interested in using these resources, so some improvements need to be made.
One way they'll be doing that is by redeveloping the Collins Building for future use.
"The Collins Building was an old office building, but it also includes some wet-lab facilities which in dire need for early stage companies to have that access to those kinds of resources," says Miller.
Innovation park is hoping to also develop a trail system around their central pond that will connect the Mag-Lab and other facilities to other portions of the park.
The idea is that by getting more private sector companies to take advantage of Innovation Park's resources, they'll be able to produce more products and jobs.
