The University of Chicago on Sept. 16 celebrated the opening of Hyde Park Labs, a new commercial laboratory facility that will help advance science research and entrepreneurship on Chicago's South Side.
The 300,000-square-foot building was developed by Trammell Crow Company and Beacon Capital Partners. It includes space for academic research, science-based companies and the UChicago Science Incubator, which will accelerate discoveries into companies and real-world solutions in areas including the life sciences, quantum, AI and climate.
Speaking at the opening event at Hyde Park Labs, the second phase of the Harper Court development, President Paul Alivisatos called the project’s launch a “waypoint” in UChicago’s broader effort to link research and economic growth.
“It will help to energize the local economy and will also help us to do more, because it builds on itself,” Alivisatos said of the new facility. “This is an important milestone for us, but we intend to continue to invest and to continue to build the local innovation ecosystem here in Hyde Park—and partnering with all those around us to build it out further.”
The University has leased half the available space in Hyde Park Labs to house the UChicago Science Incubator, as well as researchers from UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Biological Sciences Division. The UChicago Science Incubator, managed by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in partnership with management company Portal Innovations, occupies nearly 20,000 square feet.
The building will house IBM’s Quantum System 2, and IBM researchers affiliated with the National Quantum Algorithm Center will be located in Harper Court. In addition to commercial tenants from the startup world, the building also hosts the Southside STEM Station, a new hub on the ground floor offering free, hands-on science programs for students and families in surrounding neighborhoods.
At the UChicago Science Incubator, early-stage companies will have access to state-of-the-art lab space, mentorship and capital opportunities, including the new $25 million Harper Court Ventures Fund. The facility promises valuable lab space to faculty as well as a supportive environment for tech entrepreneurs in Chicago, all while building on UChicago’s investment in the vibrancy of the 53rd Street commercial corridor.
UChicago leaders who spoke at the opening event said their goal is to build a complete ecosystem to support startups, in a building within easy reach of campus.
Nadya Mason, dean of UChicago PME and interim vice president for Science, Innovation and Partnerships at UChicago, said the building offers a chance to scale up solutions in clean energy and materials science while forging connections across fields. UChicago PME faculty will pursue projects ranging from new heat-resistant materials to infinitely recyclable polymers.
“There’s going to be a lot going on in our 30,000 square feet, but even more important are the connections that we’re going to make with researchers throughout the building,” said Mason. “It’s at these interfaces between fields and between sectors that the magic really happens.”
Mark Anderson, dean of the Biological Sciences Division, also emphasized that interdisciplinary approach. Anderson said his division’s researchers will work across three floors with 25 labs, with room to grow, and will focus on cancer research, synthetic biology and generative AI solutions.
He emphasized that it takes more than basic research to turn the modern “explosion of data” from increasingly minute levels into tangible advances for patients.
“I think we all know in this room that that requires a commercial process, and for that to work, we need an ecosystem,” Anderson said.
Entrepreneurs are already moving in. Thirteen startups—some spun out of UChicago labs—have signed leases since the summer, according to Samir Mayekar, managing director of the Polsky Center. He pointed to the Polsky Center’s 650 alumni companies, which together raised about $1 billion in the past year, as evidence of the capital networks available to new founders in Hyde Park Labs.
Mayekar shared his own experience as a startup founder focused on battery technology, recounting the struggles he and his partners struggled to find lab space. Speaking of the UChicago Science Incubator, he said: “A new reality is possible here for founders, because of this space in this building.”
To help move early-stage startups from discovery to market impact, the companies housed in the UChicago Science Incubator will have direct access to the full range of resources offered by the Polsky Center including commercialization support, business acceleration programs, advising and mentorship, access to talent, and investor and industry connections.
The quantum tech startup memQ, a spinout of UChicago and Argonne National Laboratory, was the first to move into the new facility. Sean Sullivan, the company’s cofounder and CTO, said he was excited by the energy around the building—and the robust environment for startups in Chicago.
“These hard tech problems that early-stage companies are solving, like us, they need resources: They need lab space, very specialized equipment that is super capital intensive,” Sullivan said. “This space provides labs and facilities for companies like ours to work on our technology, come to early-stage and build our business—but also has a strong pipeline for hiring with the University of Chicago right nearby.”
—Article originally appeared on the UChicago News website