The folks at Innovation Park say at this point, things are going about as planned.

They've started bringing in their first few tenants and are finding the kind of quality companies and ideas they're looking for.

One great example is an entrepreneur who is making some serious progress with the help of the park, and has hopes to have his product on store shelves soon.

“It’s not just a case to protect your phone, you're carrying around something that's actually charging it,” said Landon Spitalnik, as he displayed the prototype of a product that charges an iPhone using purely solar power.

Spitalnik's prototype uses the same solar cells that are used on satellites.

“From here, we can do this on portable gaming devices, notebooks, laptops. Imagine a sticker sheet you put on the back of your laptop, plug it in, and it’s charging your laptop,” Spitalnik said.

“I think it's a tremendous idea. The market is right for it, so we're trying to help him move forward very quickly to get his final prototypes completed and move into manufacturing and really start selling,” said Dave Brenner, CEO of Innovation Park.

For now, Spitalnik's company "Unlimited Juice," is in what Innovation Park calls the "greenhouse."

Think of it as the incubator for ideas. Tenants get a low-cost work space in an open room, access to the facilities, and most importantly, help from folks involved with the park.

“We've been able to make connections to everything from potential capital (new investors), to help with finding manufacturing in the area, to help with figuring out each of the stages we need to do to become a viable business,” Spitalnik said.

The idea is the company will then be able to move around the building as their business grows.

“When we need our own office space instead of this big open area, we can get office space here. Then from there there's sort of different stages that help you grow the business,” Spitalnik said.

Spitalnik was so impressed with what Innovation Park is trying to do, he moved here from Manhattan to be a part of it. Another thing helped him make that decision; he's also working on his MBA just across the street at Notre Dame.

“There’s no where like Notre Dame for connections in general. So you combine that with (Innovation Park) and it’s everything you could hope for,” Spitalnik said.

That's a big part of the plan at Innovation Park, to bring in business that otherwise wouldn't be ion our area.

“Coming here, for them I think, is really easy. They can tap in to not only the talent but the resources we bring to them, and outreach from expert advisers all over the country,” Brenner said.

Brenner says another key is then finding a way to keep the businesses here once they're grown.

“They're doing a lot of things that make it very conducive to staying here, and the more they do the easier it will be to make that decision,” Spitalnik said.

Spitalnik says he also got help finding a place to test his prototypes through a contact with the Irish Angels.

He hopes to have some of his products available for consumer use in at least the next couple years. He says he is interested in launching the business outside of Innovation Park, but still in this area, if the opportunity is right.

Meantime, Innovation Park just announced its fifth tenant yesterday; a company that will distribute a documentary shot by Notre Dame alumni in Haiti in 2006.

All the proceeds from “Road to Fondwa, LLC” will go to Haitian earthquake relief efforts.

To read the first story in this special report about Innovation Park, click here.