Program Overview
The Business & Technology Parks Program’s primary goal is to partner with industry to develop business and technology parks to facilitate technology commercialization, business expansion, and business recruitment.
The University of Utah Research Park, arguably the best example of a successful park in the State, has been a key driver of the State’s economy for the past 30 years, not only in creating a large number of high-paying technology jobs, but in spawning new technologies and spinning out new companies to commercialize that technology. Research Park has also established Utah as a leading center in the health sciences. With Research Park at capacity, we need once again to plan for the future and repeat this very successful example of public leadership in creating the infrastructure for business success.
The Business and Technology Parks Program is currently planning a park with 3 million or more square feet of research, technology and office space on 250 acres and at full build-out an employment base of 8,000-10,000 persons. Focusing on key industries, the park will help facilitate growth for economic clusters.
Financing for the park will come from a combination of private-sector and public sources, including office developers, the State and Salt Lake County. Also involved in project discussions are Envision Utah, Wasatch Front Regional Council, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Utah Transit Authority and local governments.
To drive economic success, the park will act as a place where university-related tech commercialization can occur, serve as a location attractive to corporations relocating to the State, and provide a place where local companies can locate to cross-pollinate with other key industries. As such a destination, it should have size, scope and look and feel akin to leading technology centers such as Silicon Valley, Northern Virginia, and Research Triangle Park.
As a world-class location for tech commercialization, particularly in the life sciences and microelectronics fields, the park will generate quality jobs and help generate new sources of tax revenues.
Doug Clark
Business & Technology Parks Director
dougclark@utah.gov
801-538-8873
Doug Clark is responsible for helping to ensure that Utah has sufficient technology-friendly business parks to foster the type of high tech economy Utah needs. Doug is a serial entrepreneur, most recently a co-founder and former president and chief operating officer of NxLight, a secure Internet transactions firm.
Business & Technology Parks Mission & Strategy - March 2006 Board Presentation