Tech research center opens in Orono

ORONO – Technology in the state received a boost Wednesday with the opening of the $1.75 million Target Research and Development Center.

Looking to support businesses and students involved in computer science, the center is the culmination of a three-year project taken on by the Bangor Target Development Corp., a private, nonprofit organization that fosters economic development in the region.

The University of Maine has leased a major portion of the 20,000-square-foot building, which sits on 3.5 acres donated by the town of Orono.

After Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Jake Ward of UM’s department of industrial cooperation said UM involvement would take place on several fronts.

Six researchers from the university’s National Center for Geographic Information Analysis will relocate to the center, Ward said. The researchers will continue to develop computerized mapping programs used by government agencies to analyze images taken by security cameras, by towns for urban planning and by utilities for locating electrical lines. Researchers hope to modify the software for the average consumer, Ward said.

At the center, UM professors and students will work with a “supercomputer,” an enormously fast and powerful machine used by the Army to simulate missile trajectory.

Composed of more than 200 small computers linked together, the $880,000 device will be purchased by UM as part of a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.

The supercomputer also models ocean currents, and will be used to analyze data from the Gulf of Maine, Ward said. It will arrive at the center next month.

Applied Thermal Sciences Inc. of Sanford, a small engineering research development business started by a UM graduate, will open an office at the center and collaborate with UM on the supercomputer contract, Ward said.

Also at the center, UM staff and students will manage a “business incubator” to help fledgling companies that use computer technology gain a foothold.

Entrepreneurs can obtain help with finding financing and can be connected with services from legal, accounting, marketing and manufacturing professionals at a reduced cost.

Anticipating that the center will have a number of tenants by early next year, Ward said he is negotiating with companies and faculty members who want to start companies.

One company based in Canada may open an office at the center to do interactive distance education, he said.

The Legislature provided support through a $750,000 research and development grant, part of a fund to support seven technology development centers for future economic growth.