Media Contact: Jennifer Rizzi, Director, Communications, Facilities & Real Estate Services, 215.573.6107, rizzi@upenn.edu
June 21, 2017
The University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services announced today that Verge Aero Inc. has signed a lease for an Inventor Garage within the Pennovation Center, the University’s business, technology and laboratory incubator.
The Philadelphia-based Verge Aero develops technology to control illuminated drone fleets in entertainment applications such as concerts, special events, and amusement parks. Calling themselves ‘The Drone Entertainment Company,’ Verge Aero has developed its Drone Entertainment Platform which allows creative professionals to easily design intricate shows with large numbers of drones.
Tony Samaritano, Verge Aero President, said, “Being based here at Pennovation, in this hub of drone activity, is exciting. So much innovative work has been done in PERCH (the Penn Engineering Research & Collaboration Hub) upstairs and we look forward to working in this stimulating environment. The facilities are fabulous and definitely conducive to getting things done.”
Verge Aero’s new space is one of five contiguous Inventor Garages along the Pennovation Center’s eastern façade — evoking the beginning of some of the world’s most famous technology companies in garages. Each Garage provides start-ups with space for research, development and prototyping, and features roll-up doors facing outwards to a new landscaped lawn.
“Entrepreneurs joining the Pennovation Center are bringing world-changing ideas to reality,” says Anne Papageorge, Vice President, Facilities & Real Estate Services at Penn. “The Pennovation Center provides the resources and facilities for these professionals to take their work to the next level. Verge Aero is joining a community of innovators which is taking shape at the Pennovation Center, and we are excited to welcome them.”
About The Pennovation Center
The Pennovation Center is a 58,000 square-foot three-story facility designed for start-up companies, entrepreneurs, and inventors looking to be part of a unique community of innovators, and includes a full service technology incubator; basic wet and dry laboratories; private offices, Inventor Garages, as well as a coworking space for up to 200 members, operated by Benjamin’s Desk. It opened in October 2016 as the centerpiece of the University of Pennsylvania’s Pennovation Works, a 23-acre development adjacent to the University campus on the southern bank of the Schuylkill River providing facilities and amenities to bridge intellectual and entrepreneurial initiatives among University researchers, private sector innovators, and start-ups. Owned by the University, and operated by its Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services, Pennovation Works houses research labs from Penn’s schools of Veterinary Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Design, and start-up companies such as Qualcomm Philadelphia Research Lab, Netronix, and Novapeutics.
Visit pennovation.upenn.edu and follow Pennovation Works on Facebook, @Pennovation on Twitter, and @pennovationworks on Instagram.
Learn more about Verge Aero at vergeaero.com and follow them on Twitter @VergeAero.
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