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about the Research Park>>
USF is taking an aggressive step forward to develop high-technology
businesses and research partnerships that boost the economy and create
high-paying jobs in the Tampa Bay area.
The university is finalizing plans to build two new buildings in its
research park that will add more than 230,000 square feet for laboratories,
offices
for corporate partners, an expanded 60,000-square-foot business incubator
and the Center for Biological Defense. The complex will bring scientists
and entrepreneurs together to work side-by-side, share innovations and
make advancements that succeed in both the laboratory and in the marketplace.
The $40-million project, which broke ground earlier this year,
is the first phase of USF’s plan to develop its 87-acre research
park into a hub for biotechnology and life sciences research and entrepreneurship.
USF’s research park is a critical piece in the elaborate mosaic
of high-tech economic development for the Tampa Bay region. While a number
of people and organizations have successfully put in place many pieces
of the mosaic, there has not been a mechanism that systematically links
USF researchers to businesses in need of a research partners. USF’s
research park will supply this vital missing piece.
USF is focusing primarily on biotechnology and life sciences research
and entrepreneurship. This represents an unprecedented vision and focus
that USF President Judy Genshaft has brought to the university’s
role in stimulating regional economic development. Even before she arrived
at USF, Genshaft had already identified biotechnology and life sciences
as research strengths for the university and envisioned building a biotech
research park. She saw strong research programs in medicine, engineering
and the basic sciences, and she wanted to maximize the partnerships USF
already established with medical partners such as the Moffitt Cancer Center
and Research Institute, Tampa General, All Children’s and the James
A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital. Building upon these strengths, Genshaft
said, is how she would lead USF into an ever-stronger national research
university.
As she examined the strengths within USF, Genshaft also explored the existing
high-tech strengths within the Tampa Bay business community. She saw that
the Bay area was home to more than 370 medical device businesses that
contribute about 51,000 jobs and more than $5 billion annually to the
region’s economy.
The research park begins to fulfill Genshaft’s vision of marrying
the strengths of the university and strengths in the region. The two-building
complex will provide critical services to move university research into
the marketplace, stimulate biotech industries, create jobs and educate
a highly skilled workforce. Those services include:
- The Tampa Bay Technology Incubator (TBTI): Occupying 60,000-square-feet of floor space, will serve as home to:
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