RIVERSIDE — A center where researchers from the Air Force, corporations and universities gather to collaboratively work on new technology concepts and techniques has outgrown its quarters and will relocate to a bigger space in October.

The TecEdge Innovation and Collaboration Center, part of the Wright Brothers Institute, will move from its 16,000-square-foot current location in the 5100 Springfield St. building in the Wright Point office park to a 24,000-square-foot space across the parking lot in the 5000 Springfield St. building.

The new space on the first floor of the 5000 building will provide more space for the work by Air Force Research Laboratory personnel with the business and university research partners, said Les McFawn, director of the Wright Brothers Institute.

“We will be able to double the number of collaborative teams we are hosting at any one time,” McFawn said Thursday, July 30.

Beerman Realty Co., the Dayton-based company which manages the office complex, has agreed to build out the new space to support the research work that is to be done there, McFawn said. The move is likely to occur in late October, he said.

The TecEdge facility was opened in 2007. Its sister facility in the Wright Brothers Institute, TecEdge Works at 105 Janney Rd. in Dayton, allows Air Force, university and corporate researchers to design and test prototype technologies including sensors and payload systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). TecEdge Works opened in 2008.

McFawn retired in 2008 as the AFRL’s executive director. He started in January of this year as full-time director of Wright Brothers Institute, a not-for-profit research organization.

The institute supported the University of Dayton-led proposal to establish a Center for UAV Exploitation. Earlier this year, Ohio chose that project to receive a $3 million grant through the state’s Third Frontier program, and partner organizations are to collectively match that funding. The UAV systems’ design and testing work is to be done at TecEdge Works in Dayton, McFawn said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.