Innovation Campus Director David Fuller addresses the audience at the...

Illawarra Business Chamber CEO Mark Grimson welcomes guests to Busine...

UOW showcases Innovation Campus to business community

The University of Wollongong showed off the Innovation Campus to the Illawarra business community at a function attended by 400 people on Wednesday (24 September).

UOW hosted the Illawarra Business Chamber’s September Business After Hours function at the Innovation Campus’ central administration hub, iC Central.

Innovation Campus staff took guests on guided tours of the facilities, including the almost complete Australian Institute for Innovation Materials which will house two of UOW’s flagship research institutes, the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials.

Innovation Campus Director David Fuller welcomed guests to the function, saying he hoped they would become ambassadors for the facility.

“This is your science and technology precinct and the community must own it for it to be a success,” Mr Fuller said. “Please tell people you;’ve been there, seen it and know what it is about. We would like you to be advocates for the Innovation Campus (because) it is imperative that it continues to grow …. imperative not so much for the university but for the city.”

Mr Fuller said the foundation tenants at iC Central were taking on an additional 150 staff to take advantage of the opportunities that locating on the Innovation Campus had provided, an indication of the potential for jobs growth as the Campus develops in the future from its current four buildings (finished or nearing completion) to the planned 25 buildings when the Campus is complete.

The foundation tenants are the Commonwealth Bank, which is establishing a centre for its business banking and Commonwealth Private arms, employment specialists The DMW Group, the Illawarra Regional Information Service, IT company iTREE, geospatial and hyrdographic consultants L3 Corporation and engineering consultants Beca.

The Innovation Campus’ administrative staff are also located at iC Central, along with the iC Health fitness centre which has already signed up more than 100 corporate members.