HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-26-08 With Innovation Park Under Way, South Bend Area Continues to Break New Ground
FOR RELEASE FRIDAY, SEPT. 26, 2008:
Sept. 26, 2008
With Innovation Park Under Way, South Bend Area
Continues to Break New Ground
New center enhances area’s reputation for ingenuity, innovation
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In a ceremony symbolic of the South Bend area’s
longstanding tradition for breaking new ground, local and visiting dignitaries
today took shovels to soil at the site of a new research center and technology
park that represents a collaboration between the community and the University of
Notre Dame. The project also is affiliated with the Indiana University School of
Medicine at South Bend.
Innovation Park at Notre Dame, an initiative that will support the needs of
researchers and entrepreneurs taking research discoveries from initial concept to
commercialization, will provide a major platform for converting intellectual
property into economic growth.
Research parks associated with other major universities have proven successful
in encouraging research, taking innovative ideas to the marketplace, creating
relationships between communities and universities, and spurring economic
growth. It is expected that Innovation Park at Notre Dame will have the same
kind of impact on the South Bend area over time.
But Innovation Park will take that formula a step further, using a unique approach
that builds on key strengths of both the community and the university.
According to Stephen J. Luecke, mayor of South Bend, the new technology park
will enhance the area’s position as an emerging center of research, development
st
and innovation to meet the technological challenges of the 21 century.
“What excites me about Innovation Park is that it builds on our local tradition of
ingenuity and entrepreneurship, and allows us to take that tradition to the next
level,” Luecke said.
“The South Bend area has always had a diversified economy, and that has
served us very well. Innovation Park will give us a number of new core
competencies that we expect to fuel an economic growth spurt well above the
national average.”
The area’s tradition for innovation traces its roots back to industries founded
th
there during the 19 century – most notably Studebaker automobile
manufacturing and the Oliver Chilled Plow – that first made the area famous for
creativity and vision. Today’s ground-breaking propels that tradition into the
future.
Central to the concept of Innovation Park at Notre Dame is the cultivation of
client-service relationships with the individuals and organizations who set up
shop there.
“We will emphasize client-service relationships, rather than tenant-landlord
relationships,” said David Brenner, the research park’s president and chief
executive officer. “Leveraging our vast network of entrepreneurial resources,
which begins at the University and extends to the region and beyond, will help us
deliver exemplary client service.
That service will include ready access to:
1. Expertise and mentoring from professionals working in the private sector.
2. Professional service providers in the private sector who offer their services
3. A large network of investors who are available to offer time, talent and
financial backing. “That’s where our model differs significantly from other
research center models,” Brenner said. “We won’t have to go looking for
experts and investors for each project. Many of them are already in place.
“That’s our secret sauce,” he said.
According to Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future, the
existence of national corporate partners with deep pockets and a keen interest in
the success of the park’s initiatives will be an essential ingredient.
“Those initiatives are not just going to be good ideas looking for partners,” said
McMahon, whose economic-development organization steered early efforts to
get the project under way. “Partners are already there for some projects, and
they are some of the largest high-tech corporations in the United States.”
The 12-acre site along Edison Road in South Bend, adjacent to the Notre Dame
campus and bordering the north side of South Bend – the site of today’s ground-
breaking ceremony -- represents a bridge between the University and the
marketplace.
The first building at the site will be a three-story, 54,000-square-foot structure
that will include collaborative areas, conference rooms, administrative offices,
incubation facilities and lab space. The target completion date is fall 2009.
Plans are being developed for future expansion at this location.
The property at the Edison Road location will cost an estimated $10 million to
$15 million in the construction of its first facility There is space available for up to
three additional buildings, with another 146,000 square feet of space, to be
developed as demand dictates. Total cost of the construction is estimated at $10
million to $60 million, with a minimum of $500,000 in new equipment.
An additional 83 acres in the former Studebaker Corridor on South Bend’s near
west side represents the city’s portion of the dual-location site, providing space
for firms that outgrow or relocate from Innovation Park. The Studebaker Corridor
site was built in 1917 as the machine shop and engine plant of the Studebaker
Corp., one of South Bend’s early manufacturing giants that made the area
famous for innovation.
The site has been vacant since 2003, and demolition of the derelict buildings
began earlier this year to make way for new facilities.
“We have known for some time that we wanted to find a new use for the site of
the old Studebaker facility,” Mayor Luecke said. “Innovation Park provides us
with a specific market for the property’s redevelopment.”
The new research facility has generated enthusiastic support from beyond the
South Bend area, including Congressman Joe Donnelly, who recently secured
funding though the Congressional appropriations process to help purchase
laboratory equipment.
The Office of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who announced in a separate
release sent today that the park is now a state-certified technology park, which
paves the way for the region to leverage state funds in support of the facility.
“Notre Dame and north central Indiana have a rich history in innovation and
technology,” Daniels said in the release. By investing in the park, we are
providing the foundation for those technologies to be transformed into job-
creating businesses for Hoosiers across the region.
Senator Evan Bayh, D-Ind., sent words of support from his office in Washington.
“Innovation Park will bring new jobs to the South Bend area and stimulate
economic growth in our state,” Bayh said.
“Innovation drives the economy of tomorrow, and this project will help Hoosier
businesses compete in the global marketplace. I look forward to working with the
City of South Bend, the University of Notre Dame and Project Future as
preparations are made for the many technological developments to come at
Innovation Park.”
Innovation Park's first facility is projected to create approximately 17 to 23
permanent, full-time jobs and one part-time job during its first year of operation,
with an annual payroll of $1.15 million to $1.45 million. Currently, there are no
projections available for the number of jobs anticipated to grow out of the project
over time.
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For more information, please contact Patrick Strickler at:
thebluewatersgroup@yahoo.com
1-877-851-4163