Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : BUSINESS : Irvine Co. to Build ‘Innovation Center’

The Irvine Co. announced plans to build a $10-million “innovation center” adjacent to UC Irvine to provide technical assistance for fledgling high-tech companies and to encourage interaction between the university and private enterprise.

The 100,000-square-foot facility will be the focal point of a 265-acre research park that will also contain the western headquarters of the National Academy of Sciences and the Irvine Co.’s hotel-conference center, as well as office sites for technologically oriented corporations.

The Irvine Co. said tenants chosen for the center will reflect a wide range of technological fields that could benefit from proximity to the university. Guidelines for admission to the center will be set by an advisory committee that could include representatives from the university, National Academy of Sciences, Irvine Co., the city and perhaps a respected scientist.

Construction of the innovation center is expected to start early next year, with the opening scheduled for early 1988.