Miles College is launching an innovation center designed to gather entrepreneurs and researchers from around the state beginning this fall.

Officials said the program, called the “The 2150 Center for Innovation, Commercialization & Growth,” will serve as an incubator for innovation.

The center will be a collaborative space for other institutions, particularly historically black colleges and universities, said Miles College President Bobbie Knight.

“We are at the intersection of purpose and prosperity and embrace tradition and innovation as we continue to advance the college ahead for the next 50 years,” Knight said in a statement announcing the initiative. “We are prepared to build a world-class space for researchers and founders, thought leaders and practitioners, businesses, and academia.”

The new center is led by Erskine “Chuck” Faush, who was recently appointed Miles College Chief Innovation and Growth Officer and the Center’s Founder in Residence.

Faush said the center will build upon existing efforts to support Alabama’s HBCU ecosystem to attract entrepreneurial talent and venture investment.

“We are launching a collaborative that will improve economic outcomes by connecting and synergizing a unified community to attract and retain talent, champion workforce development, support researchers and founders, and drive economic empowerment,” he said.

The 2150 center will partner with stakeholders in the public, private, and education sectors, including Southern Research.

“The strength of our public-private partnerships, especially working with Miles, will expand our reach and maximize our economic impact for the state as a whole,” said Southern Research CEO Josh Carpenter.

The center is part of a series of expanded academic offerings at the college that include additional degrees and graduate school courses for the first time in its 126-year history, officials also announced this week.

Miles is adding new programs at the same time it seeks to expand its footprint in a move to buy the recently shuttered Birmingham-Southern College campus in Birmingham. Miles recently signed a letter of intent in a competition for the property.

Miles is a private liberal arts Historically Black College that is affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The college is in Fairfield just west of just Birmingham.

Both Miles and Alabama A&M University are in a heated competition to buy the Birmingham-Southern property. Huntsville-based Alabama A&M responded by increasing its offer for the property with a second package totaling $65.5 million.

Faush served as chief of staff to former Birmingham Mayor William Bell and most recently served as an executive with Southern Company in Chicago. He called his return to Birmingham a welcomed personal and professional homecoming.

A graduate of UAB, Faush said that his first professional job was at Miles, where served as special assistant to then-president Albert Sloan.