Research Park has received the 2020 Outstanding Research Park of the Year Award from the Association of University Research Parks.

The association’s members include universities, municipalities, federal labs, and corporations. The outstanding Research Park of the Year Award recognizes parks that have created successful and exceptional innovation ecosystems that support the development of new ideas from inception to market, resulting in positive impacts for their local and regional communities.

The university launched the 300-acre Research Park in 1968 with the goal of stimulating economic development in the state, particularly in areas related to health and bio sciences. New companies in these areas and now many others—spinoffs from U research—needed a place to establish themselves, to recruit students and also launch their companies. Original tenants included Evans & Sutherland, Terra Tech and Utah Biological Testing Laboratory.

They have been joined by some of our state’s most innovative companies—Myriad Genetics, BioFire, Sarcos, ARUP—are among the 48 companies now located in the park, which is also home to about 81 university entities. In all, roughly 14,000 employees work in Research Park; over its 50-year history, approximately 37,000 jobs have been created from innovation and commercialization in Research Park, with approximately 98% of them still residing in Utah.

The U will host the association’s International Conference in October 2021, which is expected to draw about 300 attendees from across the nation and internationally.

Listen to a conversation about Research Park’s past and future on the U Rising podcast.