The Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA) recently held a ceremonial wall breaking to start construction of the new Howard County Innovation Center at 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia. It was also announced at the event that The MITRE Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding to support a big data and software lab, called “The Viking Lab,” in the center.

Scheduled to open in spring 2019, the center will be a 50,000-square-foot, full-service resource for local businesses and the entrepreneurship community.

The MITRE Corp., a private nonprofit corporation, operates federally-funded research and development centers that help government agencies address many of their critical challenges. MITRE’s Viking Lab will be managed by Howard County-based Trimia and will occupy approximately 1,000-square-feet in the building. The goal of the lab is to provide private sector companies the opportunity to solve complex governmental problems.

Also committed to the center will be the incubator and entrepreneur services of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, the Howard Tech Council, the Small Business Development Center, SCORE, Franunhofer, Howard Community College, Procurement Technical Assistance Program and the HCEDA. More resources are expected to be added before the opening.