The opening of the impressive steel and glass structure is the culmination of more than 10 years of planning and development by the university and co-developers, Balderstone Hornibrook.

The State Government has invested about $26 million in the 33ha site which will be completed in four stages and eventually include a four-star hotel, student residences and conference facilities.

Three other major buildings are under construction on the campus, including the federally funded $12 million Global Centre of Excellence for Transnational Crime Prevention.

Stage one of the $500 million research and business precinct, iC Central, will be the administrative hub of the campus and house a number of commercial tenants as well as a cafe, retail space, the iC health club and conference facilities.

Construction on the iC began in 2006, and the site will eventually have about 25 buildings and employ up to 4000 people.

It is intended to become the hub of all things innovative in areas such as information technology, media, health, intelligence and security, and finance.

The focus will also be on the health and physical wellbeing of the campus community.

Personal trainer Claire Rayner said a gym would help the busy researchers and business people find the right balance between work and leisure time.

"A healthy worker is more productive and office and lab workers are quite sedentary ... Now they have no excuse, with the latest, state-of-the-art equipment just a short walk away."