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AURP Promotes Nationwide Place-Based Innovation Zones
The U.S. should create a nationwide network of innovation zones which gather the capabilities of entities such as research parks, technology incubators, universities, and federal laboratories according to a recent report from the Association of University Research Parks (AURP). The Power of Place: A National Strategy for Building America's Communities of Innovation, recommends coupling distinct federal policies, regulatory reforms, and incentives along with these research and commercialization clusters to accelerate their impact.
The report contends the U.S. is losing human capital and its competitive position to other foreign governments which are providing incentives and employing place-based technology development strategies. Because of this changing global landscape, only one of the ten largest research parks in the world - the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina - is located in the U.S. And a new model of research parks is emerging, where commercial and residential space, multi-tenant buildings, and sustainable design concepts merge with a diverse collection of participating institutions (see the Nov. 28, 2007 special issue of the Digest on planning innovation spaces).
Recommended in the report is the launch of a federal government program to establish these innovation zones across the U.S., based on national priorities such as energy and homeland security, which would also require matching grants from the states, local government and private industry for their establishment. Other policy recommendations include:
- Reform current federal restrictions on negotiating corporate IP property rights for research performed in facilities funded through tax-exempt bonds;
- Provide incentives from the federal government for start-up companies locating in these innovation zones to be awarded contracts and grants from SBIR, STTR, and NIST's new TIP initiative;
- Target these innovation zones for federal lab expansions;
- Offer enhanced benefits for companies that perform research in these innovation zones, such as research and development tax credits;
- Expand the leasing authority of federal agencies to create innovation zones adjacent to federal laboratories; and,
- Provide incentives to build mixed-use space and encourage density in innovation zones located in urban areas.
The Power of Place: A National Strategy for Building America's Communities of Innovation can be accessed at: http://www.aurp.net/meet/power_of_place.cfm