A university research park is designed to drive technology-led economic development. It creates partnerships among universities and/or research institutions and the private sector that spawn new companies. The synergy of the partnerships can translate the research and technology into new commercial enterprises.
Research parks are increasingly recognized as an economic development engine globally. In fact, even President Barack Obama is on board. In January, the president signed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, which would provide federal financing for science and research parks (appropriation is now pending).
In light of all this, why wouldn’t every community want to build a research park?
“It’s not the notion of a ‘field of dreams’ that you just build a facility and everybody comes. It’s really just part of that entire ecosystem that has to be created to support entrepreneurship and support innovative-led economic development. In most instances there is a strong public-private organization that brings together all those,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce, John Fernandez, in his 2009 testimony on the subject of research or science parks.
Research parks need to be thoughtfully planned and developed with a complex combination of buildings and services; skilled entrepreneurs and managers; strong, committed leadership; and solid partnerships from both the public and private sector over the long-term. Research park success is typically evaluated on a 20-year horizon.
There is no doubt that a successful research park would provide value to our community, the university and tenants. The benefits are discussed in a paper prepared by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice in Cooperation with the Association of University Research Parks. There, it says the community benefits from firms that locate in the park and increase regional job growth, salaries of tenant employees and the number of people who receive workforce training. The university benefits from research anchors that locate in the park and increase sponsored research, student employment rates, faculty recruitment/retention rates and tech-transfer metrics. Park tenants benefit from access to a skilled workforce, high-quality buildings, prestige, access to university faculty, facilities and equipment, flexible leasing space, cost, interaction with other firms and business-related support activities.
Additional thoughtful and collaborative work needs to be done to develop a university research park vision for Southwest Washington. Most research parks partner with a large research university – in excess of $100 million in federal grant activity annually. It will be decades before WSU Vancouver reaches that critical mass. And considering the relatively small but growing size of WSU Vancouver and the magnitude of cuts to state support (WSU state funding has been cut 52 percent in the last four years alone), the university is dedicating its scarce resources primarily to preserving a high-quality educational experience for its students. Positively impacting the baccalaureate (or higher) attainment rate in our region is a primary way WSU Vancouver contributes to economic vitality, which is called out as one of 10 performance metrics in the recently released draft Clark County Economic Development plan.
Still, there is likely opportunity for carefully matched research initiatives and companies to capitalize on our community’s unique strengths. Research parks are as diverse as the communities they exist in; none are exactly alike. Our community would need to work together to define our vision of a university research park.
As wryly noted by University of North Carolina Greensboro Professor Albert Link, “If you’ve seen one research park, you’ve seen one research park.”
Collaboration is critical and our community has a strong history of achievement through collaboration. That experience will serve us well as we continue to explore the viability of bringing a university research park to Southwest Washington and creating an entrepreneurial culture that works to advance innovation and encourage ingenuity.
Lynn Valenter is the interim chancellor at Washington State University Vancouver and the vice chancellor of finance and operations. She can be reached at lvalenter@vancouver.wsu.edu.
