• Since its launch in 2001, Discovery Park has generated more than $180 million worth of sponsored research for Purdue that has generated more than 40 patents.

The Bindley Bioscience Center at Purdue University's Discovery Park was completed in August 2005, a month after the opening of the $58-million, 187,000-sq.-ft. (17,372-sq.-m.) Birck Nanotechnology Center nearby.

It works in concert with Purdue Research Park, which is host to such firms as Cook Biotech Inc., Endocyte Inc. and the Chao Center for Industrial and Contract Manufacturing. "We are committed to commercializing our intellectual property that comes from sponsored research through Discovery Park," said Julie Goonewardene, who handles the identification and commercialization of intellectual property at Discovery Park. Purdue Research Park is home to more than 90 technology-related companies in the areas of tissue engineering, biomedical diagnostic devices, targeted drug delivery and nerve regeneration. PRP is taking its show on the road, with incubators now established in Indianapolis and in Merrillville, just outside Chicago. The 48,000-sq.-ft. (4,459-sq.-m.) facility in Merrillville opened with seven charter client firms in January 2005 and received an official Certified Technology Park designation by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in February 2006, a designation that comes with tax incentives for business development.
    • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Competitive Economies, part of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, doesn't just focus on North Carolina, but addresses competitiveness and economic development issues on a national and global scale. Among its programs is the e-NC Authority, which addresses the implications of broadband Internet access for all 100 of North Carolina's counties. A central part of its mission is to simply increase awareness of the panoply of economic development resources at the university.
    • The University of Oklahoma's Economic Development Institute was founded in 1962, and has graduated more than 2,900 economic development professionals. OU/EDI provides a three-session program, one week per session, conducted in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis, Ind.
    • In Toledo, Ohio, says John Gibney of the Regional Growth Partnership, "a lot has taken place over the last several years in our region as we continue to incorporate the higher educational institutions into our ED strategy. The presidents from each of the four major colleges and universities in Northwest Ohio sit on the RGP Board of Directors. " The partnering has extended to the Medical University of Ohio and the University of Toledo, which will now merge their institutions and thus create the third largest university in Ohio. "It will also help in recruiting and attracting students and top level faculty, as well as help in bringing more federal research dollars to the area," says Gibney, who adds that his organization has also launched a "Meet the Researchers" program to offer a forum for university researchers to present their ideas and technologies to the private sector.
    • Chapman University in Orange, Calif., announced in September 2005 the creation of the Roger C. Hobbs Institute for Real Estate, Law and Environmental Studies. The institute will be funded in part by a $10-million gift from successful real estate developer Hobbs. An interdisciplinary collaboration between three schools at Chapman – the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics, the School of Law and Wilkinson College of Letters and Sciences – will allow the Hobbs Institute to draw on research centers, faculty and visiting experts from each school, bridging the disciplines of business, law and environmental science. The C. Larry Hoag Center for Real Estate and Finance will be part of the institute, funded by a $3-million gift from Helen Hoag, widow of the late real estate entrepreneur.
    • The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute for Economic Advancement is well regarded for its regional role in economic development, as it administers the Center for Economic Development Education. Equally well regarded is its annual International Conference on Transportation and Economic Development.
    • The University of Waterloo in Ontario is one of several Canadian universities with a highly regarded suite of programs focused on economic development subjects, others being Simon Fraser University and Algoma University. The courses and seminars conducted by the Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) have been conducted in partnership with the University of Waterloo since 1972, under the aegis of that school's Faculty of Environmental Studies. The Masters of Applied Environmental Studies in Local Economic Development is also recognized by EDAC as part of their professional certification.
    • In addition to its growing stable of facilities that include a $36-million life sciences complex, Virginia Tech in Alexandria, Va., is home to the Metropolitan Institute, founded in 2001 as part of Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies. The institute's five areas of targeted study are "The New Metropolis," fair growth, green regions, smart governance and world cities, examined through the prism of research on national and international development patterns.