JULY 6, 2020 — UTSA has received $350,000 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for the Tricentennial Innovation Park Study Investment.
UTSA will use the funds to study the potential benefit of creating an innovation and research park that will leverage the university’s key areas of research with San Antonio’s burgeoning and diverse local economy to foster a transformative ecosystem tailor-made for the 21st century.
Part of the Campus Master Plan, which will serve as a guiding framework for UTSA’s development over the next decade, the proposed Tricentennial Innovation Park would be a multicampus development, utilizing a 50-acre tract of land on Main Campus and prospective land located near the Downtown Campus.
Al Salgado, assistant vice president for small business and community engagement for UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development, is spearheading the innovation park effort.
“The Tricentennial Innovation Park will offer San Antonio–area companies a competitive advantage.”
“The feasibility study will seek out, promote and integrate our research with government, the private sector and various research foundations,” Salgado said. “It will provide us with the information we need for the site development, governance structure and consultants who will provide planning for the building itself.”
The study also will help UTSA identify the recommended target partners, needed facilities and future costs of the park.
The project supports UTSA’s vision to be a model for student success, a great public research university and an exemplar for strategic growth and innovative excellence.
It would integrate collaboration space among researchers and provide corporate access to research staff and student interns. It would allocate laboratory research space with private offices, state-of-the-art lab equipment, lease space for small and large businesses, work space and technology for networking, and coworking for students, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders, including the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force.
Upon completion, the project would provide a communitywide innovation space that allows university and nonuniversity community members to participate in the development of San Antonio’s economy, while positioning UTSA as a leading research institution in South Texas.
“The Tricentennial Innovation Park will offer San Antonio–area companies a competitive advantage for attracting customers, talent and funding to grow their businesses,” said Salgado.
⇒ Explore details of UTSA’s Campus Master Plan.
U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, who represents the 23rd Texas district, supported the funding for the study.
“I am proud to see UTSA investing in a project that could potentially benefit the entire San Antonio metro area,” Hurd said. “The innovation and research park could help the next great American innovation come to life, or it could provide an entrepreneur with their first big break.”
Once the 12-month feasibility project is complete, UTSA leadership will review it to decide next steps in the development and build of the innovation park.
