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Grace O’Sullivan (VP, Corporate Engagement & Partnerships) tells the story of Beyond Silicon, a small startup that leveraged ASU’s infrastructure to leap past barriers that would have cost millions. Through shared lab access and proximity to researchers, by way of ASU’s Innovation Zones, this partnership embodies ASU’s commitment to nurturing next-generation innovators. Grace highlights how access and collaboration fuel entrepreneurship.
I love the startup stories because there's a company called Beyond Silicon, and they work on coatings for solar panels, so they have a space maybe smaller than the size of this room that we're sitting in right now, probably a third of the size of this room. They are located in our macro technology Works building that is housed inside our ASU Research Park Innovation Zone.
The barriers to entry in that sector is so high, especially for a small startup company. o they're able to of course, so they're able to just rent a small space from ASU, partner with us on research. They get to use all of the facilities, our core facilities.
The founder told me that had they had to build this on their own, it would have cost above $30 million just to get startup. So they wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the enabling capabilities in terms of talent, but also infrastructure and the ecosystem that ASU brings to bear. So I love that story because it really highlights how ASU is enabling the entire startup community.
We hope to do more of that. We have about ten companies co-located with us in macro technology works, but it's not enough. We need more spaces like that. So we're also advising local developers about what kind of lab space is needed. What are we hearing because we're running out of space in our building, but hopefully our partners can then pick up that baton and continue to build more, enabling places like that, because it's all about the innovation ecosystem.
So these companies might be the next TSMC or the next Intel's that are homegrown here with us at ASU.