USU'S Innovation Campus Celebrates 20 Years

After 20 years of successful, steady growth, Utah State University's Innovation Campus is holding an anniversary celebration Monday, Nov. 21, from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The celebration will be held in the auditorium of the Calibration Building at 489 East Research Parkway, in North Logan, located on the Innovation Campus.

The state of Utah's Senior Advisor for Economic Development Christopher Roybal is slated as the keynote speaker and will discuss the role Utah State University and the Innovation Campus play in Utah's economy. Roybal is former president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah.

Innovation Campus has reason to celebrate. Starting in 1985 with one building in a North Logan field, the campus has grown into a bustling, high-tech research center that employs nearly 2,100 people. Innovation Campus companies generate approximately $121 million in revenue per year.

"We are celebrating the past accomplishments of Innovation Campus and we are also looking ahead to an exciting future," said Brent Miller, USU vice president for research. "With a recently completed master plan and the purchase of adjoining land, the campus is poised to grow to 150-acres of high-tech business space at full build-out. This growth will solidify Innovation Campus as a major economic hub for northern Utah."

Innovation Campus is home to 45 businesses, including the award-winning Letterpress Software, Inc. Letterpress was founded by USU alums and develops cost-effective Internet and CD-ROM based instructional software. In 2005, the business was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award for Children's Science Software for creation of animated, educational software that teaches children how to handle food safely.

Utah State's Space Dynamics Laboratory, the university's technology and commercialization management office, the USU Research Foundation, and Gemini Life Sciences, a business that commercializes USU plant technologies are housed on the campus. Other businesses such as Astrotech, Inc., EarthFax Development, IntelliChoice, Inc., MicroBioSystems, LP, Phoenix PharmaLabs, Spectrum Research Technologies, and SynVax, Inc. are also located there.

"The Innovation Campus provides high-tech, high paying jobs and spin-off companies from university research," said Teresa McKnight, interim director of Innovation Campus.

The idea for the Innovation Campus began in 1984. Then university Vice President for Research Bartell Jensen and then Graduate School Dean Larry Piette, designated 30 acres of land in North Logan to create a place where USU researchers, students and private industry could partner and generate ideas to strengthen Cache Valley's economy.

"Research parks have had an impact on the local and national economy because of their ability to produce innovative and marketable products and services, as well as new jobs," said Jensen.

Jensen will be honored at the anniversary celebration as the founder of Innovation Campus, as well as other key people who have participated in the park's success during the past 20 years. The campus will also honor successful companies housed on the campus.

Innovation Campus is located in North Logan, between 1500 and 1800 North and between 400 and 600 East. Expansion of the campus includes acreage between 600 and 1200 East, between 1400 and approximately 1650 North.

For more information about Innovation Campus, visit the Web site. For more information about the 20th anniversary celebration, contact McKnight at (435) 797-9606.