The Innovation Space: Helping Entrepreneurs with Science Resources and Business Know-How
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By DERON SNYDER (as published by Delaware Business Times)
Back in 2023, when the burgeoning startup Sindri Materials needed a place to live and grow, CEO and founder Christopher DiMarco began a nine-month research journey. He looked at private lab spaces from Maryland to New York and all the way to Boston. There were lots of business incubators in “great spaces and great ecosystems,” but he says none were the greatest fit for his graphene company.
“Then we stumbled on The Innovation Space,” DiMarco says. “The way their spaces are set up, with their leadership and their focus, they have an emphasis on advanced materials alongside life sciences. It just makes them a unique space for a company like ours.”
The residency paid off immediately. Sindri Materials won an Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Grant from the Delaware Division of Small Business in 2024 and also made the cut for Technical.ly’s RealList Startups that year. DiMarco says setting up shop at The Innovation Space has played an invaluable role in his company’s success.
Founded in 2017, The Innovation Space helps science-based startups thrive in Delaware, hopefully to the scale of companies that change the world through science and live for generations — like DuPont, which partnered with the state and the University of Delaware to develop the nonprofit. Bill Provine, a longtime DuPont director and The Innovation Space’s founder, president and CEO, says they all saw a gap in the landscape for those types of startups.
“You hear all these stories about people creating Apple Computer in their garages or some software company beginning at the local Starbucks,” Provine says. “But you can’t generate the next therapeutics company or Big Pharma company in your garage.”
DiMarco, who’s from Delaware County just outside of Philadelphia, searched far and wide before finding the ideal location right under his nose. “It’s the shortest distance of any place I looked at,” he says. “I started with Google searches and wasn’t really thinking about Wilmington. Ultimately, I heard about The Innovation Space and it was serendipitous. It was 30 minutes away from me.”
