University of Bridgeport receives $2.3M donation for new Innovation Center

The University of Bridgeport has received a $2.3 million donation to renovate its former Bauer Hall dormitory into the new innovation center for student-entrepreneurs and Connecticut-based businesses seeking to expand.

The donation to fund the center was made by George Bauer, the CEO of the asset management firm GPB Group Ltd. and a former chief financial officer at IBM, and his wife, Carol Bauer, a former chairwoman of the Norwalk Hospital Board of Trustees.
“My wife and I consider ourselves stewards,” said George Bauer, who resides with his wife in Wilton. “We are responsible for contributing to the common good, and the way we see it, universities like UB represent the common good and all the ways that we can invest in the future.”

Construction on the new center will begin this afternoon in a ceremony on campus. The four-story center will consist of 8,600 square feet of offices, conference rooms, brainstorming booths, an international trade center, a professional service office and a maker space. It will also become the home for the university”™s venture programs, including the Student Entrepreneur Center and the UB Incubator.