University of South Carolina announces Collexis will become Innovista tenant
October 3, 2007
COLUMBIA, SC – October 3, 2007 – University of South Carolina President Andrew Sorensen announced today that Collexis Holdings Inc., a leading developer of high definition search and discovery applications, will become the next tenant for Innovista, the university’s research campus that is expected to transform the landscape and the economy of the City of Columbia.
Sorensen made the announcement in his state-of-the-university address to faculty, staff and students and community leaders.
I am delighted that Collexis will become part of Innovista, Sorensen said. As we work to strengthen our economy, we must have the ability to attract companies that will provide high-paying jobs and have a vested interest in the Midlands. Collexis aligns very nicely with our research in alternative energy and fuel cells, the health sciences and computing. It is exactly the type of company that we want to have here, and we are proud to be associated with Bill Kirkland and his team.
Collexis will locate on the third floor of the Horizon II Building, which is on the block bound by Assembly, Blossom, South Main and Wheat streets. Horizon II is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy in November 2008.
Bill Kirkland, CEO of Collexis Holdings Inc., said he was eager to become a part of Innovista and looks forward to expanding Collexis’ partnership with the University of South Carolina.
We have enjoyed a very productive partnership with the university through our joint projects with the Office of Research and Health Sciences and the School of Library & Information Science, Kirkland said.
We are very pleased to grow our partnership as we join the University of South Carolina’s Innovista project as one of the inaugural tenants. As Collexis is one of the world’s leading High Definition Search and knowledge discovery technology companies, it is fitting that we join this very exciting and groundbreaking Innovista project. We truly feel that new and exciting synergies will be born from this partnership.
John Parks, executive director of Innovista, said Collexis presents opportunities for collaboration with other companies.
Collexis is the second tenant slated for Innovista and is representative of the fast-growing technology companies we are seeking to attract, Parks said. Its location in Horizon presents many opportunities for collaboration with other companies that we are in the process of recruiting.
In March, the university and leaders from the Midlands announced that Duck Creek Techonologies of Bolivar, Mo., a leading provider of software for insurance carriers, would become Innovista’s first tenant and occupy the fifth floor of the Horizon II Building.
Horizon II is one of two buildings that will be part of the Horizon Center, a cornerstone of Innovista that will focus on research in alternative fuels, technology and other high-tech fields. Other buildings include the Public Health Research Center, which opened last year, and two additional buildings that will form Discovery Plaza. Discovery Plaza will be a hub for biomedical researchers in cancer and the neural sciences. One building will include the Center for Brain Imaging and research programs for the South Carolina Cancer Center.
When completed, Phase I of Innovista will represent a $250-million investment by the private and the public sector and encompass 580,000 square feet of space. Fifteen-year projections include development of more than 11,000 square feet that will include research buildings, restaurants, retail and residences, as well as green space that stretches to the Congaree River.
The announcement is the second involving the university and Collexis, which has 33 employees globally. On Tuesday, the university announced an agreement with Collexis and SC Launch! that will create a partnership for hydrogen-fuel research and make the university an international technology hub in that field.
Collexis will build a hydrogen-fuel dashboard, similar to a virtual library, that will be available for free to the South Carolina research community and available online, for a fee, to researchers across the world.
The dashboard will be the basis for an additional seven other alternative energy topics, which will be used to create a co-branded USC / Collexis alternative energy suite.
