1.
Innovation
Districts and
Innovation Hubs
Dr John Breslin, NUI Galway

2.
“Innovation districts constitute the ultimate
mash up of entrepreneurs and educational
institutions, start-ups and schools, mixed-use
development and medical innovations,
bike-sharing and bankable investments—all
connected by transit, powered by clean
energy, wired for digital technology, and
fueled by caffeine.”
-- Brookings, The Rise of Innovation Districts
What’s an innovation district?

3.
● Coworking space: A shared office space where
startups rent desks or take periodic/temporary desk
space called “hot desks”
● Incubator: An organisation that helps new and startup
companies to develop by providing services such as
management training or office space
● Accelerator: Fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that
include mentorship and educational components and
culminate in a public pitch event or demo day -
typically office space and seed funding of up to 50k is
given to each company
Innovation Hubs can house...

4.
● In the US:
○ Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cambridge, Cleveland,
Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St.
Louis, San Diego, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago,
Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Seattle
● Worldwide:
○ Manchester, Sheffield, Barcelona, Berlin, London,
Medellin, Montreal, Seoul, Stockholm and Toronto
● Ireland:
○ Innovation District in Galway
○ Also Innovation Hubs in Westport, Sligo,
Skibbereen, Drogheda, more emerging...
Where is this happening?

5.
Visiting the San Diego
Innovation District

6.
Don’t wait for five or ten year
plans: pick a building, show
that it can house an
innovation hub, through its
success grow into other
buildings and spaces nearby
Right in a town or city centre,
attractive location for
companies, walkable to the
transportation hubs, cafés
and restaurants, colleges,
etc.
Hold open workshops in a
shared area to skill up local
companies and the
community in emerging tech
(cloud and web frameworks,
app development, etc.)
Allow companies to co-work
in a space that allows them
to leverage each other’s
expertise, bounce (ideas) off
each other, collaborate with
and mentor others
Incorporate if possible one or
all of the following spaces to
make stuff: hackerspace /
makerspace, fab lab, science
gallery, etc.
Have a hot desk area for
short-term visitors to the
city, so that they can
experience what it’s like to be
a local, and hopefully apply
for citizenship later on
Lean
approach
Location is
key
Community
focus
Co-working
space
Make and
create
Visitor
friendly
Some of the principles

7.
The Home of Innovation
in the West of Ireland
Maurice O’Gorman
Chairman, GCID

8.
24
companies
employing
64 people
30
community
events
21
industry
events
15
innovation
events
2
games
jams
1
hackathon
13
additional
jobs
created
2000+
visitors
Opened in May 2016

9.
What’s next?
● Accelerator launch:
Q1 2017
● Live streaming of
events
● Second building:
The Stables 2018

10.
Pre-start Start-up Early Stage Later Stage
Course
Competitions
Coworking
Incubator
Accelerator
Incubation
Active Seed
What is needed?
● Supports for
accelerators
● Early stage access
to capital