Officials from UNC Charlotte broke ground Thursday, Dec. 15, on the PORTAL building, a $37 million facility created to cultivate closer partnerships between the University and private industry.

PORTAL, an acronym for Partnership, Outreach and Research to Accelerate Learning, is projected to be completed in late 2013 on a high-profile site at the Tryon Street entrance of the Charlotte Research Institute (CRI) portion of campus.

The planned four-story, 95,000-square-foot building will house the Ben Craig Center, UNC Charlotte’s business incubator, along with the University’s Technology Transfer Office.  It will be built using a variety of non-state resources.

More than 40 startup companies have been formed from technology developed at UNC Charlotte. Two startups that have their origins in the Ben Craig Center: Digital Optics, which was acquired for $60 million by Tessera North America; and SoyMeds, a company founded by two UNC Charlotte professors.

According to Chancellor Philip L. Dubois, “PORTAL will be a launching pad for businesses like Digital Optics and Soymeds, providing a central location for business incubation, technology transfer and other services. It will also be a place where businesses with origins both in and outside of UNC Charlotte can integrate their business development and R&D efforts with talent on the UNC Charlotte campus.”

 “The PORTAL building reflects the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's commitment to University-industry partnerships with particular emphasis on research, business growth and job creation,” said Robert Wilhelm, vice chancellor for research and economic development at UNC Charlotte.

“A focal point for the CRI campus, PORTAL offers new capacity to locate business partners directly within the creative mix of students, faculty and specialized facilities at UNC Charlotte,” he said. “Supporting new research initiatives and an expanding program for entrepreneurship and business startup, the building will also offer secure facilities for defense and security projects.”

Photo: An artist illustration of the planned PORTAL building.