This story originally appeared on star-telegram.com
By: Cameron Cushman
Aug. 5 marks a big moment for Texas A&M-Fort Worth — and for the city overall. The grand opening of A&M’s Law & Education Building and the groundbreaking for Research & Innovation Building-A officially give Fort Worth a Tier 1 research university downtown. More important, though, are the grand possibilities they present.
Texas A&M-Fort Worth will be unlike any other research university in the world. Here, rather than telling businesses about new research they are working on, A&M researchers will ask businesses how they can help solve their toughest challenges. This flips the traditional college research model on its head and creates a business-partnership research method that will be a game-changer for businesses, for Fort Worth and for the regional economy. The implications of this shift in approach to research are profound. As Dean Bobby Ahdieh noted in his keynote address to Downtown Fort Worth Inc.’s annual meeting, we should “consider the possibility that we could build Silicon Valley on the Trinity River.” What he meant is that 70 years ago, the tech industry in Northern California — fueled by research universities such as Stanford and California-Berkeley — grew into the global leader for innovation and technology. We can do the same in Fort Worth.
The business and civic group that supports the campus, the Fort Worth Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, is more committed than ever to making the dream a reality. Recently, we announced that our founding executive, Darryl Heath, is handing over the reins after an extraordinary run of success. Heath did a remarkable job getting this project off the ground. And now it’s time to go to the next level.
I will be taking over as the executive director. I’m excited to use my experience fostering communities of innovation to help make Texas A&M-Fort Worth the place to be for innovators and entrepreneurs. And we have a new name: the Switchyard Innovation District. It could not happen at a more important time. As Mayor Mattie Parker and the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership are working tirelessly to bring new jobs to Fort Worth, the next big step is to become a center of innovation that attracts the right kinds of jobs to our city. The Switchyard Innovation District is here to do just that. Can Fort Worth become the next epicenter of innovation-led economic growth? The city has a long history of innovation. From the creation of the ice cream Drumstick to the growth of Radio Shack into a global tech brand and the founding of Mucinex, Fort Worth has long been home to game-changing innovation. And I didn’t even mention that hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas was invented here.
With the grand opening of its new building in Fort Worth, the Texas A&M University System has a unique opportunity to test, commercialize, fund and launch the innovation that its $1.4 billion research expenditures receive in an urban environment. The Switchyard district will provide a place for innovation-led economic development to start and grow, with the A&M System as its lead tenant and anchor.
To put this into perspective, Cornell Tech — a similar project in New York City anchored by Cornell University — has generated $768 million in total economic impact and supported 2,800 jobs, with projections to hit $1.5 billion by 2030. The question is not whether innovation districts work. The question is: How soon can we get ours fully operational so that we can reap similar economic benefits? The A&M system allocated $227.5 million to construct the Law and Education Building. Total investments in the campus could exceed $500 million. That will draw considerable research and commercializable technologies from within the A&M System to Fort Worth. World-class researchers will relocate here to be closer to this activity. Established companies will build in the area to improve their ability to innovate. And Fort Worth will add high paying jobs in these advanced fields, building wealth for our community. As the chairman of our board, investor John Goff, is fond of saying: “Companies come and go. But universities come and grow.” Radio Shack is gone. Pier 1 Imports is gone. Texas A&M has come. The Switchyard Innovation District is just getting started. And Fort Worth and Tarrant County will lead the world in bringing world-changing technologies to market.
We are excited about the grand opening. But we are even more thrilled about all that lies ahead of us — for Texas A&M-Fort Worth and for the Switchyard.
Cameron Cushman is the new executive director of the Fort Worth Tarrant County Innovation Partnership.
