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Updated on Aug. 30, 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n Plans for a world-class technology park at UConn received a major boost Friday when the State Bond Commission authorized the release of $18 million in bonding to cover the project\u2019s initial design and development costs.<\/p>\n The Tech Park is expected to generate hundreds of new jobs in Connecticut, encourage new business growth, and leverage millions of dollars in federal and private research funding.<\/p>\n During a visit to Storrs last Thursday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the park will serve as a cornerstone for a new Connecticut \u2018research triangle\u2019 similar to those finding success in other states.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an exciting endeavor for UConn \u2013 there\u2019s no doubt about it,\u201d said Malloy. \u201cBut it\u2019s also exciting for our state. We are not only building a technology park in Storrs, but we\u2019re linking the work that will be done there to the Health Center in Farmington, and to the work that\u2019s being done in New Haven and elsewhere across the state \u2013 Connecticut\u2019s own research triangle. This is a concept that has worked well in other states, and there\u2019s no reason why Connecticut \u2013 with top talent, top universities, and an entrepreneurial spirit and drive \u2013 can\u2019t capitalize on new ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n Malloy, Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams Jr. (D-Brooklyn), UConn President Susan Herbst, and a host of other legislative and University leaders gathered at the University Thursday afternoon to formally sign Public Act 11-57 calling for creation of the Tech Park, and to announce the Bond Commission\u2019s anticipated approval of the funding.<\/p>\n Williams said the Tech Park will be an important engine for job creation, and a critical component in Connecticut\u2019s economic recovery plan.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to net job growth over the last two decades, Connecticut has been treading water,\u201d said Williams. \u201cThe creation of a research triangle is exactly the type of investment we need to create high-quality jobs and sustained economic growth. With the approval of startup funding for the project, we will take a significant step forward \u2013 and ensure that eastern Connecticut will play a critical role in the state\u2019s economic revival.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Malloy announced plans for a new \u2018Bioscience Connecticut\u2019 initiative centered around the UConn Health Center in Farmington. The initiative is expected to secure the state\u2019s position as a national leader in bioscience research and help jumpstart the economy by generating jobs and long-term growth. The proposal will allow the Health Center to increase its capabilities for bioscience research, expand its small business incubator facilities, add more scientists, and increase medical and dental school enrollment by 30 percent to meet future workforce needs.<\/p>\n \u201cBuilding a technology park at UConn is an important next step that will help create jobs and promote Connecticut\u2019s long-term economic growth,\u201d said President Herbst. \u201cWe thank the Governor, Senator Williams, and the General Assembly for their bold leadership on this issue. UConn has a proud history of strong industry-university partnerships that support the state\u2019s economy. Over the past 12 years, UConn has created 35 new companies, generated 226 patents, and recruited world-class faculty with expertise in key industrial areas. The Tech Park will build on this strong foundation, and foster innovations leading to even more discoveries and new products that will help Connecticut industry thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n The technology park is planned for a 300-acre parcel off North Hillside Road in North Campus, behind the existing UConn Public Safety Complex and the University\u2019s tennis courts. It is expected to be operational by 2015. Once built, the initial Tech Park anchor facility \u2013 known as the Innovation Partnership (IP) Building \u2013 will provide large, flexible-use laboratories to top academic researchers and industry scientists looking to advance technologies that lead to new product development and commercialization. Additional Tech Park buildings \u2013 many of which could be privately funded \u2013 are planned for future phases of the project.<\/p>\n The Tech Park\u2019s laboratories will feature highly-specialized equipment not readily available to industry. The park is designed to encourage the development of startup companies, as world-class University researchers and scholars recruited through a new \u201cInnovation Partners Eminent Faculty Program\u201d work side-by-side with top industry scientists and business entrepreneurs to explore innovative ideas in manufacturing and advanced product development in such areas as aerospace, defense, biotechnology, energy, and the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Tech Park\u2019s success will be derived from the investment of industry partners who believe that the intellectual assets, physical assets, and cyber assets of the IP building will be instrumental in developing important breakthroughs,\u201d said Mun Choi, dean of the School of Engineering. \u201cThese projects will demand a synergistic integration of the best computational and experimental capabilities in academia and industry.\u201d<\/p>\n The extension of North Hillside Road to Route 44 in Storrs will allow the development of up to one million square feet of research, technology, and academic space, consistent with the University\u2019s long-range Master Plan.<\/p>\n The UConn Tech Park will provide important incubation space for entrepreneurs with innovative ideas who would benefit from guidance by faculty experts in the field. UConn\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialization will be involved in the different projects, advising researchers and industry representatives on the entrepreneurial value of their work and the opportunities that may exist to raise venture capital to bring the product to the commercial market.<\/p>\n A 2007 feasibility analysis for the park indicated that with new developments at the University occurring since UCONN 2000 \u2013 such as significant growth in research, and a mature system for technology transfer and commercialization \u2013 UConn was in a strong position to support a successful technology park in Storrs, says Rita Zangari, director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. It predicted job growth based on a combination of startup activity, industry partnerships with established firms, and new relationships with national research institutions. While clearly a long-term venture, the study indicated that the park would create up to 1,200 jobs in the first 10 years, and 2,800 jobs over 20 years, with payroll reaching a high of $416,000,000 in that timeframe, Zangari says.<\/p>\n The park will help companies and startups with limited resources.<\/p>\n \u201cThe IP building\u2019s extensive instrumentation will provide companies with the ability to address their short-term manufacturing problems,\u201d says Professor Harris Marcus, director of UConn\u2019s Institute of Materials Science. \u201cThis is particularly true for smaller companies and startups, since they often do not have the necessary instrumentation and support staff necessary to address the short-term manufacturing difficulties that limit their opportunities for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n While the School of Engineering and Institute of Materials Science will likely have major roles in the Tech Park, UConn officials view the development as a University-wide initiative that will potentially incorporate scholars and scientists from a wide array of academic disciplines such as chemistry, pharmacy, and physics.<\/p>\n The dean of the School of Pharmacy, Robert McCarthy, says scientists on his faculty are very interested in creating new University-industry partnerships and expanding existing ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that companies like Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim will be interested in doing collaborative research with us, and with the new Tech Park they\u2019ll be able to locate next to campus and work closely with our faculty,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n Jeremy Teitelbaum, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, says researchers in CLAS are already working with industry partners to advance science in their different disciplines.<\/p>\n \u201cBreakthroughs in technology flow from collaboration among scientists, engineers, and industry, who, working together, come to understand natural processes and find ways to apply this insight in practical ways,\u201d Teitelbaum says. \u201cBasic scientists in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are active in many such collaborations. They are seeking dramatic progress in the diagnosis of disease; new and efficient ways of sampling contaminants in water; materials that can withstand extreme conditions or promote important chemical reactions; and ways to generate fuel from sunlight. By creating a dedicated site for such collaboration, equipped with the latest instruments, the new Technology Park will dramatically accelerate the path from laboratory insights at UConn to new industries here in Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Funding for the new tech park at UConn was approved Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":45215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,2076,179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-45182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gallery","category-research","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 05:28:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45182"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45649,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45182\/revisions\/45649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/45215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45182"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=45182"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}