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What happens when you mix a mid-size tech company, high-tech startup companies and an accelerator program like DreamIt Ventures? Organizers of the new Innovation Center @3401 (ic@3401) are betting that assembling the key elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on a small scale in one location will help boost innovation, collaboration and business creation in Philadelphia.
Point.io is the first mid-size company to commit to ic@3401. Its 13 employees moved in June 3. Point.io, which moved into the city from the suburbs, is a high-tech company helping enterprise clients unleash the value in their existing digital information using cloud, mobile and application programming interface (API) technologies. Through Point.io’s patent-pending, API-as-a-Service Platform (APIaaS), enterprise clients can dramatically reduce development time for mobile applications, and therefore realize significant cost savings and faster time to market. Business leaders can explore new business models that leverage existing information assets to generate new revenue while resting assured that data is accessed securely. Point.io authenticates every access request and monitors all activity to make compliance easy. Point.io's products include APIdocTM to expose file-based assets and APIflowTM to externalize core business processes to support web, mobile, and social applications that meet the growing demands of enterprise mobile stakeholders.
“Accelerating innovation requires an entire ecosystem” said Ron Rock, CEO of Point.io “Philadelphia has committed to building and supporting that environment, and we felt it was a key ingredient for our company’s success to be part of it. By relocating to the Innovation Center @3401, we are gaining unparalleled access to resources, talent, and a collaboration environment that fuels our innovation. We could not be more excited to be part of the commitment to grow Philadelphia as a high-tech city.”
Located at 3401 Market Street in Philadelphia, ic@3401 is a partnership between the University City Science Center and Drexel University. The 17,000-square-foot facility includes a collaboration space for more than 50 tech entrepreneurs and freelancers directly alongside DreamIt Ventures’ world headquarters and Point.io. Future plans call for attracting venture capitalists and other members of the funding community to ic@3401.
The Innovation Center @3401 is also the new home of DreamIt Ventures’ world headquarters. The accelerator will run programs there beginning in July 2014. To date, eight startups have applied to be part of ic@3401’s coworking space which opened its doors in early June.
The Innovation Center @3401 builds upon Drexel’s philosophy of cooperative education and cross-disciplinary research, and the Science Center's long and impactful tradition of incubating startups and convening communities around innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Our approach to business incubation and growth is all about breaking down silos,” says Science Center President & CEO Stephen S. Tang., Ph.D., MBA. “We’re experimenting with new ways to bring small and large businesses, investors, and academics together, and helping them to interact productively.”
“Startups like Point.io are exactly the sort of companies that will benefit from growing in the environment that we’ve created at the Innovation Center @3401,” said Keith Orris, Drexel’s senior vice president for corporate partnerships. “Drexel’s strength in developing cutting-edge digital technology and supporting entrepreneurship will help support the vision of companies like Point.io, who avail themselves of the many benefits of locating operations in ic@3401.”
The Innovation Center @3401 is holding a series of informal open houses called SnackChats on June 26 and July 10 and 17, featuring coffee and refreshments from Federal Donuts. There is no charge, however pre-registration is requested. To register for a SnackChat, visit: https://www.sciencecenter.org/event or e-mail khart@sciencecenter.org.
More information about ic@3401 is available at www.sciencecenter.org/programs/ic3401. Prospective residents should contact Kristin Hart at khart@sciencecenter.org.