Indianapolis Star

October 2007

University research parks making impact on national economy

By David Johnson

The Purdue Research Park is familiar with the domestic insourcing concept. It's a sensibility that shows how our best engines of economic development - our state's universities - are sources of great ideas that can be brought to market with a little help.

The same can be said of the other university-related research parks. According to the Association of University Research Parks, nearly 5,000 companies and organizations, many in biotechnology and information technology, employ some 350,000 full-time U.S. workers in university-based research parks. With a growing economic impact of more than $30 billion, they've helped states and local communities sharpen their vision of technology-based economic development.

A living example soon to be born in Indianapolis is the new Purdue Accelerator Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis, announced this June by the Purdue Research Foundation. The facility, which is in partnership with Holladay Properties Inc., is poised to become a high-tech business incubation and innovation hub that will help transform the area's economy.

When it opens in 2008, Purdue Accelerator Park will create roughly 1,500 local jobs with average annual salaries of $54,000. This technology park will help entrepreneurs from various industries build new businesses and let established companies expand their operations.

The 75 companies expected to locate at Accelerator Park will deliver the kinds of high-growth, high-skill jobs our state needs. In a community with the rising profile of Indianapolis, these opportunities in life sciences and technology-based industries offer an exciting new platform for economic development. That's important, since Indianapolis - like many Indiana communities - has suffered its share of economic setbacks following manufacturing job losses.

What makes the Purdue Accelerator Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis especially exciting is its location near the midfield terminal of the new Indianapolis International Airport terminal. This makes the park easily accessible for local, national and international companies.

Purdue's affiliation with a variety of partners at Accelerator Park underscores the technology park's future success. South Bend-based Holladay Properties brought the real estate know-how it honed in Indiana communities from Merrillville to New Albany. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation helped secure these big-picture plans for the park. And the city of Indianapolis is welcoming Purdue as a stakeholder in its life sciences initiatives.

These local and regional partnerships will play central roles in the new Indianapolis economy. Accelerator Park will be a model of platforms already functioning in Greater Lafayette and in northwest Indiana. The established Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana and the future Purdue Technology Park of Southeast Indiana are blazing trails from Merrillville to New Albany.

None of this is a surprise to people who know our state's universities as great engines of innovation that bring research and discovery to the table. University-based technology parks advance those ideas and discoveries by fostering the creation of new companies, which in turn transfer technologies to the marketplace.

Successful technology parks in Indiana and in other states demonstrate the vision and practical experience we need.