Port San Antonio was named “Outstanding Innovation District” by an international association of research parks, innovation districts and tech hubs on Wednesday night in Bentonville, Ark.
The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) hosted its annual conference at the University of Arkansas this week, where it welcomed leaders of universities, technology and research parks, those who design them and those who work from them.
“We were very surprised and honored,” said Port San Antonio CEO Jim Perschbach on Wednesday morning from Bentonville, where he traveled to accept the award along with Margaret Wilson-Anaglia, president of the Port San Antonio Board of Directors.
“Winning an award like this, when you look at the list of past honorees,” he said, ” it gives us tremendous credibility.”
What makes the honor perhaps more remarkable is that many parts of the Port’s innovation campus plan are still in the visionary stage.
Perschbach said he believes the award validates what the Port has already accomplished — 80 tenants on the 1,900 acre campus, who employ 18,000 people and generate over $5 billion in annual economic activity — as well as its aggressive strategic vision for the future.
That future looks like a sprawling, high tech defense, research and innovation park that Port leadership hope will include a new headquarters for the 16th Air Force, a futuristic, wing-shaped office tower, a vertiport and a cyber training center.
The campus would also include the types of amenities that the campus’s military, academic, commercial and neighborhood users will need, such as a child care center, grocery store, gym and hotel, along with retail and dining options.
Perschbach is especially keen to develop a child care center that can be used by military and civilian families, and for a grocery store that can be used by the nearby neighborhoods, as well as those who work on the campus.
All of those components were recently collected into a single page on the Port’s website, complete with detailed renderings from Pelli Clark Pelli, the international architecture firm that is designing its office tower.
Perschbach’s ultimate goal, like that of other innovation campuses, is to foster the flow of ideas and innovation among groups that can often be siloed: universities, federal labs, the military, non-profit research and development institutions and private industry.
The importance of research parks
The AURP estimates that there are roughly 700 research, science and tech parks and innovation districts in varying stages of development worldwide. The association was first formed to support university-led research parks, but has expanded in recent years to include all types.
These place-based communities convene academia and students, governments, and the private sector, said AURP CEO Vickie Palmer. Having everyone “around the table,” she said, drives innovation and market success, which expands out into the community surrounding the campus.
For every employee within a research park, studies have found 1.2 jobs created in the community, she said, while startups that locate in innovation districts are more successful after five years than their peers trying to go it alone.
Palmer said Port San Antonio caught the AURP’s eye because of its “proven track record for contributing to the community,” especially its focus on attracting students and creating a pipeline for tomorrow’s workforce, as well as its audacious expansion plans.
The admiration goes both ways.
Being a member of the AURP and attending the annual conference, Perschbach said, “has dramatically expanded our network,” allowing Port leaders to make connections with those across the globe who are also working to build innovation campuses.
“There are people we know now through the AURP who are doing tremendous work — that have done a lot of the things we’re trying to do, and can give us lessons learned on what works and what doesn’t.”
