The University of Pennsylvania’s $26 million Pennovation Center – the soon-to-open business incubator and laboratory for technology and life sciences industry startups and entrepreneurs – has signed up its first biotech company.
Liquid Biotech USA has agreed to take space at the 58,000 square-foot center adjacent to the Penn campus in West Philadelphia.
“We think they will contribute to the overall ecosystem and the environment we are creating here,” said Ed Datz, executive director of real estate at Penn.
Datz said the Pennovation Center is having a soft opening starting this month, and will mark its official opening in late October. He said about three dozen technology companies have already signed up to occupy the center’s co-working space.
The way the Pennovation Center is structured, people and companies sign up for memberships for space that can be for hours, days or months.
Daz said when they put out a call for companies interested in lab space at the center, Penn was contacted by about 18 companies. “We are in conversations with six to eight others and close to signing up a couple more,” he said.
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