Nucleus Institute breaks ground on Utah headquarters, innovation campus at The Point

DRAPER — Sometimes a name says it all.

Such is the case for the recently renamed Convergence Point, an innovation campus that on Wednesday became the latest development to break ground at The Point.

Set to open in 2029, Convergence Point will serve as the permanent home of Utah's Nucleus Institute — an initiative aiming to bring together higher education, industry and government around a shared goal of collaborative innovation.

But in practice, Convergence Point will be a meeting place where the biggest and brightest ideas aimed at addressing real challenges can be brought, shared, incubated and refined before eventually turning into something real.

"The idea that a researcher in Logan may be working on a problem that a company in St. George knows how to solve. That a student at any one of our institutions may have this incredible next idea, but needs a mentor, a business partner, or a first company to really move that idea forward. These connections can happen today ... But we want to make them easier to find and faster to build," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said.

The Nucleus Institute, established by HB530, launched in August 2025 as the reimagining of the Utah Innovation Lab. It creates a focused governance model, a new investment structure and a strategic framework to guide statewide innovation through higher education, private sector engagement and other emerging sectors.

With a primary focus on using "innovation to solve big problems," Convergence Point will house impact labs focused on solving some of the most pressing issues impacting Utahns, like housing affordability, water and air issues.

"We will take groundbreaking research happening on campuses all over Utah and also across the world, and bring them together in this building to commercialize and turn them into impact," said Angela Smith, Nucleus Institute COO and Convergence Point program director.

Additionally, a large portion of Convergence Point will be dedicated to innovation entrepreneurial hubs, which Smith described as a "guided programmatic support for commercializing deep tech research as that research crosses the valley of death and turns into successful companies."

And with "convergence" in the name, it's only right the building will feature a variety of event spaces to bring groups from industry, education, government and more together under one roof.

As an official Utah System of Higher Education building, Smith added that Convergence Point will have dorms to house students from across the Beehive State — a prospect that excited Southern Utah University President Mindy Benson.

"'I'm most excited for the opportunities it will bring our students to study together and to get businesses started and to bring ideas to reality," Benson said. "I think what it will develop with higher ed and industry and the ability to prepare our students for the workforce might be the best change in higher ed in decades."

More details about Convergence Point are available here.

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