Tri-Cities Research District: Creating a sense of place, growing technological and industrial innovation
The Tri-Cities Research District (TCRD) is kicking off 2020 with its newly redesignated Washington State Innovation Partnership Zone (IPZ). The Tri-Cities IPZ is the catalyst for collaboration between public and private industries to prioritize technological and industrial innovation on the TCRD campus.
The success of the TCRD and IPZ is rooted in the involvement of our local and regional partners, including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which continue to commercialize ideas and bring intuitive products to market. Through our 2020-2021 Strategic Plan, we’ve reaffirmed our efforts in execution of our priority actions; developing facilities that support technological growth and attracting enterprise expansion in the Tri-Cities.
Our 11th annual Action Plan is focused on self-sustaining and effective growth of TCRD, with primary economic development activities devised through recent opportunities within our ecosystem.
The Port of Benton in its related functions as a property owner and lessor within the district will assess the lease and sale of properties in furtherance of recruiting qualified companies and organizations. A priority is being placed on gathering the diverse technical qualifications and commercialization capacity of existing TCRD companies and promoting property to prospects that can generate new non-Hanford-related employment opportunities. This targeted prospect identification will focus on building potential tenant records for both short- and long-term recruitment opportunities.
An aligned priority is investing in local entrepreneurship, which was realized most recently through the port’s award of funds to Fuse SPC and State of Motion from its 2018 U.S. Economic Development Administration i6 Challenge grant. This award has resulted in the creation of a $1.2 million seed fund to invest in the development of local startups and education programs for small businesses.
Continued investment in our local economy ensures a diversification of local talent development and importation of opportunities that help our local economy remain resilient and competitive.
As the TCRD as a whole reflects on its past accomplishments and trajectory toward growth, we also see creating a sense of place as a top priority in attracting and retaining talented individuals. Without creating a sense of place, we risk the loss of intellectual capital; our partners at Washington State University Tri-Cities (WSU-TCs) have been instrumental in overcoming those challenges.
WSU-TCs opened its first on-campus housing in the TCRD in the second half of 2018, and we continue to explore mixed-use development that intrinsically links these residents to their surroundings and the greater Tri-Cities community. As the TCRD and its partners assess land within the district, it is important for us to explore additional mixed-use and infill development that appropriately blends the wider community into the district without sacrificing our primary job-creation goals.
Supporting TCRD tenant and regional growth continues to be supported through the sponsorship and promotion of events related to entrepreneurship and technological innovation. On the horizon for 2020 are Fuse Launch Pad (March 26), the eighth iteration of Fuse Launch: Weekend (April 24-26), Tri-Cities Tech Summit (September), and numerous speaker opportunities throughout the year at TCRD business locations.
Follow us throughout the year at www.tricitiesresearchdistrict.org.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Tri-Cities Research District: Creating a sense of place, growing technological and industrial innovation."