Page 83 - Innovation Delaware 2021

BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
STAR Campus: Building a New Fintech Hub
Members of the business and academic communities believe the sky will be the limit when the fintech building on the University of Delaware (UD) STAR Campus is completed.
The official halfway point of construction was met on February 10, when the final girder of the frame was put in place. Completion is expected for November 2022.
Like the previous construction on STAR Campus, the six-story, 100,000-square-foot structure is expected to bring academic, business and government aspects of the financial industry together under one roof. The building, a public- private partnership, is owned by Delaware Technology Park (DTP), not the university. Among its tenants will be financial institutions, academic centers, small businesses, nonprofits, data and technology experts, and the Small Business Development Center. Discover Bank is on board as an anchor company, and the building’s central location on STAR Campus allows it to play a pivotal role in UD’s work.
“We are building an ecosystem here that will be wonderful for everyone,” says LEVI THOMPSON, dean of the UD College of Engineering, which, along with the Lerner College of Business & Economics, will have dedicated space in the building. “The fintech building presents physical space as well as a tremendous opportunity for engineering and computer science students, faculty and staff to collaborate with the
Lerner College, Discover Bank and its affiliates. These relationships will propel UD to the forefront in education, research and economic development in the fintech space.”
Plans for the interior design are being finalized now, with the idea that all the different institutions should be able to easily interface and mesh. Businesses are to have office space
INNOVATION DELAWARE 81
TIFFANI MANOLIS
LEVI THOMPSON