Calling his city "a rising sun," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino signaled the dawn of a new era of innovation in the city with the creation of a new $5.5 million Innovation Center to be constructed in the city’s Seaport District.

The initiative is part of an effort to bolster the neighborhood’s newly minted "Innovation District" branding.

The Innovation Center is scheduled to open this fall.  The 12,000-square-foot facility will feature a 3,000-square-foot restaurant and a 9,000-square-foot meeting and event area for local professionals. The new space is designed bring entrepreneurs together to help foster innovation, the city said.

The "Innovation District" currently features more than 100 companies and has helped create roughly 3,000 jobs since 2010, Menino said at a recent Boston Municipal Research Bureau meeting.

"Every week a new business arises [in the Seaport District]," said the Mayor.  "There is no doubt that Boston is a rising sun… across our city, cranes are in the sky and businesses are opening on the ground."

Tim Rowe, an official with the nearby Cambridge Innovation Center, will operate the new Boston Public Innovation Center, which is scheduled to break ground in mid- to late-April.  Rowe will be working with the Seaport Square development team.

Menino said he was confident that Rowe’s prior experience in Cambridge would translate well in the Seaport.

"Tim has a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs succeed," Menino said. "I have no doubt that his leadership will help make our new Innovation Center a vibrant launching pad for the innovation community."