Research Parks Forming Strategies To Adapt To End Of Building-Boom

Of Building Boom Faced with decreased federal funding and corporate cuts in R&D, science complexes turn to economic development and incubation for help. 'GOOD NEWS': University Park at Southern Illinois University has seen small companies blossom. Research parks, like other facilities that house working scientists, are facing some new economic realities. Growth has slowed since the mid-1990s, government funding of research is down, and corporate tenants are looking to please Wall Street i

Written byThomas Durso

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Of Building Boom Faced with decreased federal funding and corporate cuts in R&D, science complexes turn to economic development and incubation for help.

'GOOD NEWS': University Park at Southern Illinois University has seen small companies blossom.

Research parks, like other facilities that house working scientists, are facing some new economic realities. Growth has slowed since the mid-1990s, government funding of research is down, and corporate tenants are looking to please Wall Street investors by slashing staff. These challenges are making one thing clear to park administrators: Economic viability depends on finding new ways of doing business.

"If the research itself is going down, who's going to want a research park?" says Louis Padulo, president and chief executive officer of Philadelphia's University City Science Center, the home of 140 tenants (including The Scientist). "What are you going to do with a research park?"

Park administrators are exploring several ways to stay ...

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