With a robust array of new federal policies supporting innovation and tech-based economic development, expanding the impact and reach of university-based research parks and innovation districts across the U.S. is vital in fueling the nation’s economic growth and global competitiveness, according to a new white paper from AURP.
AURP’s white paper, The History of Research Parks and Their Evolution into Innovation Districts: Exploring U.S. Federal Support for Creating Communities of Innovation, notes the history of development of research parks begins with Stanford Research Park, founded in 1951.
Since that time, the research park model has spread across the U.S. and then globally as more communities devoted resources into research parks and innovation districts sponsored by universities, government labs, hospital systems and cities, often with support from national governments.
With passage last year of the $174 billion CHIPS and Science Act, this new white paper from AURP – a global nonprofit membership association serving university and institutional research park communities and innovation districts – states the U.S. government signaled its interest in helping local communities build new regional technology hubs and related investments in advanced technologies critical to U.S. competitiveness.