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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Office of the Mayor <br /> <br />NEWS RELEASE <br />January 5, 2009 <br />3 p.m. <br /> <br />South Bend’s legacy of innovation sparks Ignition Park <br /> <br />Contact: <br />Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 <br /> <br />It shall be called Ignition Park. <br /> <br />It has been a place where the City of South Bend has mounted Indiana’s most aggressive <br />environmental restoration effort to remove decaying buildings of its rust-belt past, where the <br />legacy of Studebaker Corp. haunted the memories of a previous generation of workers yet <br />inspired others with its reputation for quality, reliability and innovative style. <br /> <br />Now, the 83 acres southeast of Sample and Chapin streets in the former Studebaker Corridor <br />will be home to a portion of Indiana’s first two-site State-Certified Technology Park with <br />Innovation Park at Notre Dame, which is now under construction on 12 acres along Edison <br />Road across from the University of Notre Dame campus. <br /> <br />It is a place where efforts are under way to invest millions in resources to capture a portion of <br />the projected $1 trillion U.S. nanoelectronics industry, especially research emerging from the <br />Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery (MIND) at Notre Dame, the newest of four <br />national research centers funded by the nation’s leading computer chip makers. <br /> <br />Mayor Stephen J. Luecke unveiled the name for the 83-acre Sample Street site in a news <br />conference today, culminating a communitywide contest that drew 250 entries to rename the <br />site that was home to the Studebaker portion of South Bend’s legacy of innovation. <br /> <br />“Ignition Park signals that this site will spark the creativity of researchers and engineers into <br />the commercialization of new innovative products that we have yet to imagine,” Luecke said. <br />“The name draws on the city’s legacy of innovation and heritage in the automotive industry, <br />yet points to our future as a launching pad for nanotechnology and other high-tech ventures.” <br /> <br />“I am enthusiastic about South Bend’s future and cannot imagine a name more fitting for the <br />Studebaker Corridor than Ignition Park. This name recalls the successful economic history of <br />South Bend while also sparking a strong interest in South Bend's remarkable high-tech <br /> <br />