According to Dr. Patricia A. Book, the
central role of higher education in the
regional economy is preparing college graduates to become business leaders and
a technology-oriented labor force. However, economic growth overall is driven by
productivity growth and innovation.
“Universities bring educated people and a
culture focused on ideas and creativity to
the regional economy,” says Book, vice
president for regional development at Kent
State University.
“Public research universities, like Kent
State, also play a leadership role in the
transfer of technology and business skills
between the university and industry, which
ultimately creates jobs and wealth.”
Smart Business spoke to Book about the
benefits of research parks to a local/regional business community.
What is a research park? What are its objectives?
A university research park is a property-based venture. Typically, it involves a property that has been master-planned primarily for research and development facilities
(both public and private), technology and
science-based companies, and support
services. Tenants have contractual, formal
or operational relationships with one or
more university research institutions.
Through industry partnerships, these
parks promote the university’s research
and development, assist in the growth of
new ventures and promote economic
development. In general, they play a strong
role in promoting technology-led economic development in the region.
University-based research parks are
intentionally designed to foster an innovative, interdisciplinary environment for
learning, discovery and engagement that
leads to intellectual excitement, scientific
achievement and economic growth and
opportunities. The parks offer a complementary mixture of opportunities that
include new ventures, industry and government cooperation, student internships
and employment opportunities.
A research park may be not-for-profit or
for-profit, owned wholly or partially by a
university or a university-related entity.
The park also may be owned by a non-university entity but have a contractual or
other formal relationship with a university,
including joint or cooperative ventures between a privately developed research
park and a university.
Nearly half of all research parks nationally are university-affiliated, nonprofit entities. About 60 percent of them — most of
which were built 15 to 25 years ago —
include a technology incubator or accelerator. Varying in size from about 4.5 acres to
7,000 acres, they are now a permanent part
of higher education’s landscape.
Biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies are the most dominant participants in
research parks, followed by software/information technology, computers/electronics
and aerospace/defense. These align well
with the industry in Northeast Ohio.
A regional approach to economic development aligns nicely with university-based
research park development and technology acceleration. Intermediaries that support these developments include Jump-Start for venture capital, TeamNEO for
business recruitment, NorTech for high-tech companies and Bioenterprise for bioscience start-ups. Kent State’s FLEX-Matters Accelerator, developed in partnership with NorTech and Kent Displays Inc.,
is a perfect example of this kind of regional collaborative approach.
What do these research parks offer corporate
partners? How can corporate partners take
advantage of their benefits?
Research parks offer corporate partners
space to incubate or accelerate their companies. Other benefits include:
- opportunities to collaborate with university-based scientists to invent new products or processes;
- support services to prepare business
plans, including marketing, human resources and financial components; - prototype development; and
- access to talented pools of graduate
and undergraduate students.
If a company wanted to get involved, what
are the first steps it might take?
I would advise the company to call the
university’s economic development out-reach office and set up an appointment to
tour the research park facilities to determine if they would accommodate initial
and immediate space needs. If there is a
match, then the company can discuss leasing arrangements.
Assuming further interest, I would advise
the company to work with the university’s
economic development office to set up
appointments with university-based scientists to find potential collaborations between its entrepreneurial or business
enterprise interests and faculty research.
Our office can connect the company with
business development services and facilities, such as a clean room for research and
product development, prototyping facilities, analytical services, or corporate development and small-business development
services. Because universities also seek
student internship opportunities, we typically make those matches, as well.
What kind of monetary investment is required for a company to participate?
The investment generally would be in
leasing needed space, because part of the
concept is that support services are
already in place.
Some research parks are major property
ventures and companies can actually build
on the land, or they just might rent a couple
thousand square feet. Space demands —
and thus lease/build costs — vary widely.
DR. PATRICIA A. BOOK is vice president for regional development at Kent State University. Reach her at (330) 672-8540 or
[email protected].