FGCU plans to use off-campus building for water research, hire six water experts
When Florida Gulf Coast University opened its Emergent Technology Institute in 2016, it was supposed to be the first building in a research park.
The park was going to be a public-private project, located on 241 acres of land off Alico Road, known as the Innovation Hub. FGCU's hope was for the hub to be a center for sustainability and renewable energy research.
The hub never came to fruition, and the Emergent Technology Institute, or ETI, never blossomed into the bustling research facility FGCU hoped it would be.
"You know it's partly because this region continues to rest on a fairly non-diverse economic base — tourism, health care — but not the big burst of other things that would lead to partnerships," FGCU President Mike Martin said.