Epicenter of research in S.D. taking shape

The South Dakota Public Universities and Research Center - or University Center in Sioux Falls - has entered the world of university-affiliated research with a groundbreaking Wednesday for a classroom building and Center for Graduate Education and Applied Research.

The Board of Regents, which governs public higher education, hopes before long the University Center casts a much longer shadow on that world. Several state universities offer classes and degree programs at the campus.

The regents and University Center officials are soliciting development proposals for the University Center Science and Technology Park.

Its first building will be the GEAR center that will sit on the northeast corner of an 85-acre parcel bounded on the west by Career Avenue; on the north by West 60th Street; by West 54th Street on the south; and on the east by Interstate 29.

Higher education officials invite potential developers to share their visions for making the rest of the property a research enclave, serving university and private researchers.

By seeking development proposals, "what we want to do is see if there are other developments, other needs, other partners. We want to bring other research entities onto the campus to develop more of the synergy of a research environment," said Tad Perry, the regents' executive director.

"In our minds, it's the opening invitation for discussion with potential developers. It outlines what we would like to see from the perspective of a partnership that might develop," said Mark Lee, University Center executive dean.

Questions to answer

Higher education officials are asking potential developers to answer such questions as how a University Center research park would mesh with the Avera Health and Sanford Health commitments to biomedical research; how a research park will complement or compete with research at the University of South Dakota, Dakota State University and South Dakota State University; and what relationships between faculty, students and private researchers should exist at a research park.

"We are still connecting those dots," Lee said.

He suggests that instead of being overwhelmed in competition with huge research ventures such as Sanford's plan to build a 13-acre research campus of its own, a University Center research park would contribute to lifting the profile of the state - where research is identified as one of Gov. Mike Rounds economic development priorities, and where the Homestake Mine in Lead has been named the site for a new underground national laboratory.

"We've gone from almost no research capacity to a lot of people interested in building capacity. There didn't even used to be a pie to compete over. Now we're trying to create a pie and hopefully all activities will benefit from it," Lee said.

Economic engine?

In calling for proposals, education officials are relying on the expertise of new SDSU President David Chicoine.

As vice president for technology and economic development at the University of Illinois, Chicoine was extensively involved with the expansion of three research parks, one near the Champaign-Urbana campus and two in the Chicago area.

"The most important thing is to listen to the market closely," he said. "If you try to do things against the forces of the market, you better have a big head of steam to counter those market forces."

Done right, universityaffiliated research parks are formidable economic development engines.

An Association of University Research Parks report claims such institutions in the U.S. and Canada employ more than 350,000 people and contribute more than $31 billion annually to the countries' economies.

Many universities built research parks in the 1980s. But many of them also foundered for years.

South Dakota will benefit from lessons learned by other schools, Chicoine says.

"In my experience, it is really important to get all the interests of the parties on the table. ... It's important to have an enlightened private sector partner. They bring the discipline of the marketplace," he said.

No budget parameters have been set beyond Chicoine's observation that research facilities commonly cost several hundred dollars per square foot to build.