GRAND RAPIDS ? David Brenner, former chairman of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, has been appointed director of a new technology incubator under development by the University of Notre Dame, the City of South Bend and Project Future, the regional economic development organization.

Brenner currently is founder and managing partner of IdeaWorks, a start-up incubator/accelerator firm in Grand Rapids, which assists early-stage entrepreneurs transform promising ideas ? particularly in high tech, durable and consumable consumer, and medical products ? into successful new enterprises.

Starting Jan. 1, 2008, he will become CEO of Innovation Park at Notre Dame. Construction of the first building is expected to begin in the spring and be completed by the summer of 2009. The city alone has made a $1 million commitment to the project, using resources returned from the Business Development Corp.

?Hiring Dave Brenner and the development of a plan to build Innovation Park have truly resulted from a team approach which has involved the private sector, city and state government, and the University,? said Thomas G. Burish, Notre Dame?s provost. ?We are optimistic that our partnership will result in a successful effort. Similar parks associated with other universities in the state and around the country have proven to be wonderful means for encouraging research, taking innovative ideas to the marketplace, creating industry-university relationships, and for spurring economic growth.?

The initial building will be 60,000 to 80,000 square feet. When the entire project is completed, Innovation Park will encompass 250,000 square foot. It will feature a combination of wet labs, clean rooms, offices and more.

Brenner, who is heavily involved with the Irish Angels, a private equity finance group, said the Irish Angels will be heavily involved with his incubator.

?I?m in the process of preparing a full plan so everyone with the Irish Angels will understand how this will work,? he said. ?We?ll be looking at joint ventures, start ups and numerous other ways to commercialize research available from Notre Dame, which is a Top 15 research university. Notre Dame has made a commitment to improve that research and we?re going to help them commercialize it.?

Sounds like a great plan the politicians in Lansing should study.

?South Bend will have a unique technology park that Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, places with the same close nit nature of the Notre Dame community could emulate,?? Brenner said. ?We?ll tap into our community as aggressively as anyone has done in United States. Through the Irish Angels and our national business contacts, we?ll make great use of them. In the week since the announcement was made, I?ve been inundated in offers of help from Notre Dame alumni on how they can contribute to this overall effort.?

Brenner said his Grand Rapids accelerator, IdeaWorks, will be phased out over time as Brenner focuses his attention on Notre Dame. Brenner?s business partner, Tom Edwards, will manage the existing relationships with a dozen clients, but no new clients will be accepted. IdeaWorks also screened perspective deals for Grand Angels. Brenner said he?s not sure yet whether IdeaWorks will be able to do that anymore.

Brenner, a 1973 Notre Dame graduate, has been associated with the Gigot Center as an adjunct instructor. From 1991 to 2000, Brenner worked for Amway Corp. in Ada, the last two years as founder and president of Amway Ventures, Inc., which developed and rolled out independent business ventures.

Prior to Amway, he worked in a variety of management positions for Kellogg Co. in Battle Creek, Mich., including the final three years as president of U.S. subsidiaries and corporate vice president. Brenner held earlier positions in his career with Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

For more information, click on IdeaWorksLLC.Com

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