Delaware Technology Park

DTP

Delaware Technology Park: Building a Nexus of Innovation in Fintech, Life Sciences

As is so often the case in Delaware, the inception of the Delaware Technology Park (DTP) came down to collaboration. “DTP was a trifecta between the university, the state and the private sector, created 25-plus years ago,” says Mike Bowman, DTP’s president and CEO.

In 2016, DTP’s footprint expanded with DTP@STAR, an incubator on the University of Delaware’s (UD) 272-acre Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. DTP is widely renowned as one of the leading nonprofit research parks on the East Coast and its footprint is soon set to expand again with a new building that will be known as 6 Innovation Way.

That building — DTP’s sixth — on the eastern edge of the UD campus will comprise three stories and 90,000 square feet. It aims to become a hub for life science and research companies, as well as potentially providing wet-lab space for commercial spinouts from the university. DTP serves development-stage life science, information technology, advanced materials, financial technology (fintech) and renewable energy companies, providing them with access to the resources and connections needed to drive and accelerate their economic success.

“Since 2016, the DTP@STAR Incubator has seen 25 companies start there and then grow back out larger to the community,” Bowman says.

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FinTech Innovation Hub

DTP is the developer, owner and operator of the six-story FinTech Innovation Hub on the STAR Campus, in partnership with University of Delaware and Discover Bank. The building opened in 2023 and is 95% occupied.

The Hub’s work includes research, education, workforce development, venture creation and support, as well as innovation in the technological advances that support financial products and services. UD occupies 50% of the building with the Colleges of Engineering and Business and the remainder is leased by nonprofits, entrepreneurs of small businesses, the Growth Stage Incubator, a restaurant and conference facilities. The FinTech Innovation Hub’s mission is to help low- to moderate-income populations achieve financial well-being and grow the financial services sector in Delaware.

It also draws on UD’s FinTech Consortium of experts in data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning — along with its Center for Cybersecurity, Assurance & Privacy and AI Institute — to create innovative and safe financial programs. Nektarios Tsoutsos, an expert in cybersecurity in the College of Engineering, and Gang Wang, an expert in the adoption of digital technologies and their societal impact in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, direct UD’s fintech ecosystem.