Planning
After a year of development, the institute was announced by Northeastern on January 27, 2020, along with an announcement of a $100 million gift from David Roux and his wife, Barbara.[3]
David Roux lived in Lewiston, Maine, in his youth, but found success outside the state, becoming a technology entrepreneur and investor and co-founder of Silver Lake.[4] However, Roux wanted to do more to promote the technology sector in Maine and began looking to partner with an existing university to increase research and education opportunities in the state. Beginning in 2019, Roux partnered with Northeastern University to develop the institute, agreeing to contribute $100 million towards its development and operations.[3] The Harold Alfond Foundation donated an additional $100 million in October 2020.[5]
On August 30, 2021, a nonprofit called the Institute for Digital Engineering and Life Sciences announced it was acquiring the historic B&M Baked Beans factory at the mouth of Back Cove, with the intent of redeveloping the property into a campus for the Roux Institute.[6]
Roux believed that the institute's success would hinge on three factors: a credible university partner, many corporate partners, and "a big pile of money." He termed this the "Maine Model" for how to replicate the successes of major technology hubs without the same kind of educational and financial capital found in those places.[7] Major Maine businesses including L.L.Bean, Bangor Savings Bank, Unum, The Jackson Laboratories, Wex, and Idexx Laboratories signed on to co-develop the institute's curriculum.[8]
