GMU will cut the ribbon on its new Simulation & Gaming Institute next month. The Prince William campus endeavor will incubate startups working on simulation, modeling, and game design either launched by students or outside firms. The institute started running in July and has already established five companies that have created over 30 jobs and generated over $500k in corporate support. Director Scott Martin, a computer game design professor, here talking to students, says Virginia invested $250k as seed money to support the economic development piece and Prince William County invested $32k for hardware support.

The incubator houses serious ModSimGame game companies, “with a sprinkle of entertainment elements.” One of the companies is Little Arm Studios, which has a contract with the Fairfax County Fire Department to build a simulation training game. Bruxie Studios is also there working with the university’s criminology department on a training program for parole officers. The program has the potential to house 10 startups and has private sector partners like Microsoft Studios and Google Glass and others like the Entertainment Software Association and NVTC.

Operations administrator Stephanie Burton says the program already has plans to take up more square footage on campus in the Mason Enterprise Center. Over 60 GMU students have been involved with SGI as interns or teaching assistants and over 30 are working on applied research teams. Scott says the university is not yet making equity investments in the incubated companies, but he’s hoping one day new companies can swap a subsidized lease and consulting with the Mason Enterprise Center for 5% non-dilutable equity. The center is one of four in the world, including the UK, Singapore, and South Africa.