Edmonton Research Park

[kcantor]

^

no, it wasn't half-baked or half-directed to other pursuits to the extend that it is time to move on. your point is exactly why we have so many problems we can't seem to fix.

if it's time for anything, it's time to return to the underlying principals and objectives which are still valid and which include working with the province on their holdings to the south so potential critical mass isn't lost and underpinning the economic diversification it was always intended to nurture.

it should be a flag-ship cooperative venture between the city and the province.

it should be providing incubator space for u of a development programs for everything from pharmaceuticals to medicine to engineering to fine arts and design to agriculture

otherwise it's one more example of why we will never have long term success on anything from development projects to bridges to streets and sidewalks to buildings.

we need to quite chasing the next shiny penny and manage and maintain the pennies we already have instead of ignoring them until they cease to function they way they're supposed to.

 

[IanO]

Respectfully I would disagree here.

Look at the current composition of our 'research park', location, contemporary nature of these and I'm not sure this is a great path forward.

 

[kcantor]

you can disagree as respectfully as you want - you’re entitled to be wrong.

from a recent world wide research paper:

“The Role of the Research Parks

 Research parks are important institutions for filling in some of the gaps between research institutions and industry.

 Research parks help regions turn their investment in education into good jobs and economic productivity.

 Significant variety exists among research parks.

 Research parks need external support.

 Formation of research parks has continued at rapid pace and has spread quickly internationally.

 Research parks are not necessary to develop research capacity. However, they can stimulate the economy by enhancing research capacity enough to support higher-value activities and attract business investment.

 Research parks benefit from evolving and responding to competition.

 Scale matters.”

 

[IanO]

As are you Ken.

This ship sailed about 15yrs ago and if you look at the composition of the 'research park', its rudder redirected the trajectory and so we move on.

I too am disappointed that it has come to this, but given the vacancies in the main building and that very few recognize this as anything but another business park, we are where we are.

Mismanagement, a lack of vision, investment and care.

 

[kcantor]

out of curiousity, everything you point out re the research park applies to downtown in spades.

somehow I don't think you would draw the same conclusions or make the same recommendations for downtown.

 

[Gronk!]

Edmonton Research Park tenants calling for pause of sale of two buildings - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Tenants of the Edmonton Research Park are calling for the pause of the sale of two of the buildings to give the city time to reflect on the vision it has for innovation.

globalnews.ca