Cambridge Innovation Center

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Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) is an American real estate services company which bills itself as a "community of entrepreneurs". The company was founded in 1999 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates Timothy Rowe and Andrew Olmsted.

Video Cambridge Innovation Center

History

CIC was founded in 1999 in 2,700 square feet (250 m²) at 238 Main St in Kendall Square (also the home of the MIT Treasurer's office). In April 2001 it grew to 18,000 square feet (1,700 m²) across the street at One Broadway. An unusual office design garnered its new office the Honor Award for Design Excellence from the Boston Society of Architects for 2000. It continued to grow, doubling in size twice by 2004, reaching 71,000 square feet (6,600 m²) and 75 companies.

In December 2006, a major transformer fire in an NSTAR electrical vault in the basement of One Broadway led to the building and the CIC being closed for 5 weeks. The 150 companies located in the building at that time, including Google, had to be relocated on an emergency basis in space provided by MIT.

In August 2008, CIC housed 170 companies, and was recognized as a phenomenon of sorts in a Boston Globe feature article. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick visited Cambridge Innovation Center in January 2009. As of July 2013, CIC had grown to over 500 companies.

In May 2013, CIC announced its first expansion outside of Massachusetts. CIC St. Louis anticipates being able to house up to 100 companies when fully occupied.

CIC is the first innovation center to have opened. Since its creation, private companies and local governments are promoting the creation of their own version of an innovation center. Innovation centers can be local development strategies through public-private partnerships for cities to foster innovation district.

Maps Cambridge Innovation Center

Famous companies based at CIC

Google set up its New England headquarters in CIC in 2005. The first person to move in was Google Android (operating system) co-founder Rich Miner. It grew there until, at approximately 175 people and no longer able to fit, it relocated a block away.
Maven Technologies, the company that became a Yahoo subsidiary and the kernel of its operations in Cambridge, also began at CIC.
Great Point Energy, while based at Cambridge Innovation Center in 2007, raised $103M for its coal gasification technology in what was at the time one of the largest investments in the history of cleantech.