2014-2015

News Release

REF NO.: 173

SUBJECT: Genesis Centre expands to Holyrood's BeachHead Innovation Center and Suites

DATE: June 11, 2015

The Genesis Centre at Memorial University is pleased to announce it is expanding into the Town of Holyrood at the BeachHead Innovation Center and Suites on Salmonier Line, Holyrood.

Genesis Centre clients and graduates will be able to work out of the BeachHead space beginning this month.

The BeachHead will provide Genesis Centre companies with strategic access to oceans-research facilities and opportunities for collaboration with the Marine Institute’s Holyrood Marine Base. The Genesis Centre’s vision is that the space will be a resource to support the growth of its clients. At the same time, it will help build an oceans-technology cluster in Holyrood and support the town’s Oceans Holyrood Initiative.

“Having a physical space in Holyrood will allow our clients, such as Whitecap Scientific and their remotely operated underwater vehicles, to have a base from which to work and somewhere to store their equipment while they are doing field tests,” said Greg Hood, president and chief executive officer, Genesis Centre. “It will also enable them to connect and collaborate more easily with other ocean-technology companies inside and outside the province.”

“The BeachHead space here in Holyrood is clearly the next logical step in our Oceans Holyrood Initiative,” said Gary Goobie, mayor, Town of Holyrood. “It has long been our vision to become an active partner in the building of our oceans sector; the presence of the Genesis Centre is affirmation of our vision to diversify our economy by building a strong connection to the innovative developments in ocean technology and development. We are ready to take our place and move forward with our partners to become leaders in cold-ocean innovation and research. Within a 50-kilometre radius, we have some of the best research facilities and brightest minds in the world. We are delighted to welcome the Genesis Centre to the facility.”

“The Marine Institute’s Holyrood Marine Base is the portal to the ocean for the Memorial University community and supports innovative oceans education and research taking place in our province’s ocean-technology sector,” said Glenn Blackwood, vice-president, Memorial University (Marine Institute). “We are delighted the Genesis Centre is taking a lead role in opening opportunities for its clients to leverage the unique capabilities, services and facilities that the Town of Holyrood has to offer.”

“The Oceans Holyrood Initiative is both a contributor and beneficiary in Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Gary Corbett, chief administrative officer, Town of Holyrood. “We have been strategically building our oceans initiative through consultation with others in the sector. We are excited by the opportunities being created through our strategic partnership building. As we begin to stand tall among those who are championing this sector, we are ready to fully engage with them in the oceans sector to further develop our cold-water innovation and research park. The future is ours to craft and we are delighted Genesis is going to join us as we begin the design of the future oceans for our region.”

The Genesis Centre has had many clients and graduates working specifically in the area of ocean technology, such as Whitecap Scientific, SubC Imaging, EMSAT, Virtual Marine Technology, Genoa Design, Blue Oceans Satellite Systems, Rutter Technologies, Canatec and Grey Island Energy. It is anticipated that a number of these will benefit from access to the space in the BeachHead. Further, Genesis clients and graduates working with other technologies will also be able to use the space. 

About the Genesis Centre

The Genesis Centre, located at Memorial University, is an incubator for technology-based ventures with high-growth potential. It is one of the top ranked incubators in Canada and was named Canadian Incubator of the Year in 2011. Since the Genesis Centre was

founded in 1997, it has helped almost 60 startups raise more than $85 million in private equity. Genesis alumni are among the leading startups in Atlantic Canada and include Verafin, Rutter Technologies, Avalon Microelectronics (acquired by Altera), Solace Power, SubC Imaging, EMSAT, ClearRisk, Genoa Design and Virtual Marine Technology. For more information, please visit www.genesiscentre.ca.   

About the BeachHead Innovation Center and Suites

The BeachHead Innovation Center and Suites is a collaborative office space designed to facilitate the “landing” of companies coming to do business in Holyrood, many of which are expected to be ocean-technology companies. The BeachHead is part of the vision of the Town of Holyrood under the Oceans Holyrood Initiative (OHI). It is one prong of the OHI model for regional economic diversification which includes the Marine Institute’s Centre for Applied Ocean Technology (CTec) and an oceans-centric business park in the Town of Holyrood. For more information, please visit www.comeashore.ca.   

 

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