Innovation Place & the U of S

- After 25 years, the University's close partnership with the Research Park is undergoing some revisions -

Doug Tastad, SOCO Vice-President of Research Parks. Photo courtesy of Colleen MacPherson

With a constant flow of goods and services between them and with the shared aim of taking full advantage of research opportunities and results, symbiotic may be the most apt description of the unique relationship that exists between the University of Saskatchewan and Innovation Place.

But as operations at Innovation Place's governing body - the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation (SOCO) - wrap up, the door may be open to realigning the two entities in a new governance structure that better reflects the role each plays in Saskatoon's research and technology sector.

Common interests ...

"The University and Innovation Place have a wide range of completely common interests," according to Doug Tastad, SOCO's Vice-President of Research Parks. "As the primary source of new science and new technology in the province, the University is very involved in the process of determining what happens here. The province views the University as a very important partner on the risk side and also on the opportunity side, so it's obvious the University has to be able to influence the future of Innovation Place."

That influence will take the form of input from the University into an ongoing comprehensive review of how SOCO's assets and operations should be restructured, including those of Innovation Place and its sister park in Regina. The review follows the announcement in the March provincial budget that SOCO would be consolidated into the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC).

U of S Vice-President of Finance and Resources Tony Whitworth said this transition period could see the University reposition itself in the Saskatoon park's operating structure "in a fuller partnership".

Review underway

Whitworth and other University officials are being interviewed as part of the review that is being done by the consulting company KPMG. In those interviews, which Whitworth expects will be completed by month-end, "we will have a chance to give our vision," he said, a vision that would see the University more directly involved in promoting research and encouraging commercialization in a park that already boasts that culture.

"Our stake isn't in the buildings. It's in the intellectual property and the growth potential that exists in those buildings."

Capitalizing on growth potential is what Innovation Place has excelled at since its inception a quarter-century ago. Located just north of the U of S campus, the park has become a Saskatoon landmark, a thriving community of companies doing the business of research and development in agriculture, biotechnology, natural resources, communications, computing, environmental sciences and pharmaceuticals.

Gazing out his office window over the park's beautifully landscaped grounds, Tastad said the impetus for Innovation Place came almost simultaneously from the University, the city and the provincial government. Admiring the success of the Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto, California adjacent to Stanford University, and the Research Triangle Park situated between Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, all the parties believed "the community would benefit from having a research park, whatever that may be."

In the late 1970s, research developments became almost a fad, he said. Six sprang up in western Canada alone, but Saskatoon's had a distinct advantage. Through the '70s, what Tastad termed the Perimeter Road institutes - POS Pilot Plant, the linear accelerator, VIDO - had located themselves on the north edge of the campus. With the makings of a research park already in place, plans began to take shape, spurred on when the federal government announced a competition to find a home for the National Hydrology Research Centre.

"Discussions occurred among key people within the federal government, the province and the University, one of whom I know was (former president) Leo Kristjanson, and they agreed that a parcel of land would give the community a leg up on attracting the hydrology centre."

On July 2, 1977, the U of S and the Saskatchewan Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) signed an 84-year lease on 78.3 acres of University land north of the campus. Over the first 21 years, Innovation Place made lease payments to the University equal to the estimated value of the land at the time, said Tastad. It now makes nominal annual payments but while neither he nor University officials would reveal the amount set out in the lease, Tastad believes the deal was a good one for both parties.

"It was a field."

"Any increase in the value of the land is 100 per cent based on the capital investment we've made. It was a field. If we hadn't put any money into it, it would still be a field. And, the University still owns the land and will get it back in 2061."

So what was a field quickly became the site of one of Saskatoon's most intense building-boom sites ever. It began in 1980 with the opening of SEDCO Centre, now called the Galleria, and continued with 17 more buildings opening at a rate of almost one per year. Plans are on the drawing board today for another major new building, but that will wait until demand warrants, Tastad said.

Today, Innovation Place is home to 116 organizations employing some 2,200 people. They occupy more than 95 per cent of the available space "but because we're building a campus, it's not our objective to be full. It's our objective to grow."

These companies, over 70 per cent of which are Saskatchewan-based, have a combined impact of $217-million on the Saskatoon economy. As a jewel in this city's economic crown, Innovation Place has garnered worldwide attention which keeps Tastad very busy - fact-finding delegations from across Canada and around the globe visit at a rate of almost one per week.

And although it functions independently, the research park does not operate in isolation from its nearest neighbor. In fact, the lease signed in 1977 "provides the University with a tremendous amount of control over everything that happens here," said Tastad who became General Manager of Innovation Place in 1984 and was elevated to vice-president in 1998. It gives the University approval of, and the right to veto, all tenants. The U of S also has design approval on all capital developments as well as representation on a Management Advisory Committee that includes voices from the wider Saskatoon business and science communities.

It's an arrangement that Tastad believes has worked well. "We've always been able to makes these processes work. We've never come to a point where we couldn't agree."

Forging ties

But the closest ties to the U of S may have been forged by the Innovation Place tenants themselves, who have both used and served the University in their research and development pursuits.

"Innovation Place is a diverse mix of organizations within the technology sector that work with each other like those in any economic district within a city would. That has created many different kinds of relationships between our tenants and the University. Not all have relationships with the University - it's not a criteria - but some have resulted directly from University-based research initiatives."

Other park tenants, like the Saskatchewan Drug Research Institute, are University-founded but have located in an operating environment more conducive to their work. Still others have built links back to the University through the provision of services, he said, citing business and human resource companies in particular.

Tastad said the key to the park's past and future success is its focus on product improvement using the strengths of the local technology community - in which the University is a major player.

But with the demise of SOCO, Innovation Place finds itself in limbo these days, a situation that leaves Tastad with a feeling of déjà vu - the first time CIC took control of the park's assets was 1994 when SEDCO was wound down. Within six months, the operation was handed over to SOCO. This time, Tastad expects a decision on the long-term structure of the park by year end.

Some worries

The sudden disbanding of SOCO by the provincial government has left Whitworth worried that those making decisions at and about Innovation Place may not always share the common vision that exists today. Despite efforts, particularly over the past five years, to strengthen ties between the two through investment and partnership opportunities, Whitworth said the events of March opened his eyes to the fact that "tomorrow, the management team over there could change. It could be run by someone outside Saskatoon on a purely commercial basis and that would not be in the best interests of the University, the city or the province."

For Tastad, there's little doubt the U of S will have a strong presence in the park's future. Recognizing the growing competitiveness among post-secondary institutions as they vie for students, faculty and core funding, he believes close ties with Innovation Place present "a wonderful opportunity to differentiate the U of S from it's competitors. Go ask anyone why the Canadian Light Source is here."

"We should be very proud of what we've built here."

Articles Index

Next Article

Home · About Us · Issue dates · Submissions · AD Information · Back Issues · Headline Index · OCN Policies