We all know about the Lake Nona Medical and Sports City plans, but not all might know about another nearby development in our region: The NeoCity, the new advanced manufacturing facility 15 minutes southwest of Medical City.
We moved to Orlando six years back to join the startup that is Lake Nona. On our first visit here for my wife’s interview with the brand new UCF College of Medicine, she immediately recognized the unique opportunity to be a part of the new medical school. In addition, the grand scope of the experiment that was coming together here with the Medical City appealed to us. We had just spent two years in Houston at the Texas Medical Center (TMC), where my wife did her fellowship. The TMC is the largest medical center in the world with more than 13 health care institutions. So we had seen what this vision could look like and the challenges that came with it. We were excited by the holistic, long-term view the organizations in Lake Nona were taking in building out this vision.
One of the big attractions was the ability to live close to where you work. I also had just started my medical device startup and was looking for a place that could support our growth. I found great existing resources in Orlando with the UCF Business Incubation network, the BioFlorida network, and upcoming resources with the CANVS downtown co-working space and other start-ups in the region. In addition, the constant influx of so many innovative physicians and researchers who have been moving to the area has been exciting to see.
Of course, we also were looking forward to the innovation center that was planned for Lake Nona, now called GuideWell Innovation Center. It proved to be a great resource even before it opened since the director was a fellow neighbor in Laureate Park and a great guy to boot. I have been a member of the new center since it opened last year and have gotten a chance to see some great events and resources come through the building. And there is much more in the works. It is a beautiful facility, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I would encourage you to get the next available tour. The facility occupies 30,000 square feet on the first floor. Only a portion of that is used for the co-working space. The rest can be used to educate, inspire and GTD (Get Things Done!).
As a device company, we have to deal with regulatory challenges, production, staying innovative and, of course, software. We have been blessed to find a majority of the resources we need within a two-hour driving radius of Orlando from manufacturing in the Tampa region to engineering design in Melbourne.
Another development that has me thrilled about the future of our region is the NeoCity project in Osceola County just south of us. The vision is based on the current explosive growth of smart sensors in connected devices. Often called Internet of Things (IoT), it is a system of computing devices, old or new machines, any objects living or otherwise that are connected using chips. As their applications become more sophisticated, the demands on them increase. For example, medical professionals want and expect better wearable sensors to track activity levels or medical conditions in patients, and professional athletes want better data from sensors without it getting in the way of their performance. The mission of BRIDG is to bring some of the latest research and ideas from academia to the facility, study them, test them and have industry partners ready to help evaluate them and implement them if successful.
Recently, I was invited to be a panelist at a BioFlorida event titled “Bringing Designs to Life” held at the new BRIDG (Bridging the Innovation Development Gap) facility. The NeoCity is a 500-acre research park being developed by Osceola County to build the future of advanced manufacturing technologies by bringing together academia (UCF, UF, USF, etc.) and industry partners (like IMEC, an international research institute that performs research in different fields of nanoelectronics from Belgium). BRIDG facility recently opened its 109,000-square-foot laboratory. For our medical devices, we only needed to use a clean room that is classified Class 10,000 (which means a controlled space designed to never allow more than 10,000 particles (0.5 microns or larger) per cubic foot of air). This BRIDG facility is working on certifying two large clean rooms totaling more than 36,000 square feet. The larger hall is 26,500 square feet and will be a Class 100 (no more than 100 particles per cubic foot of air), which is essential for chip manufacturing. The second clean room will be 10,000 square feet, a Class 10,000 clean room and used for support. You can learn more about BRIDG at GoBRIDG.com.
At present, the clean rooms are completely empty as they wait to be certified. The enormous white clean room space looks like a set for a sci-fi movie where the latest innovations will materialize from thin air! I am excited to see what collaborations might spin out between our Medical, Sports and NeoCity and the people living in this great community.
