A Different Homecoming Keeping Bright Minds, Boosting Business

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - A Colorado company that makes bio-pharmaceutical products is moving to Tucson to be near the university that helped it get started.

It is just one example of how the University of Arizona is trying to lure more companies to town, creating jobs and stopping talented minds from leaving.

Ask just about anyone across Tucson and they want to see more, higher paying jobs in the city. Some say that means bringing clean, high-tech companies to Tucson or helping them start here. That can grow the economy for everyone.

The UA is a place for ideas to be born and helped along by Tech Launch Arizona. The UA Tech Park helps the "idea people" continue growing companies out of those ideas.

A lot of work also goes into that.

There also are companies that want to move to Tucson to be close to the research being done at the university. That boosts Tucson's economy and provides technology industry jobs, and not only for people with advanced college degrees.

“About 60 percent of the jobs in that industry are for people who have a high school degree, an associate degree or maybe a bachelors degree. So it creates wonderful job opportunities throughout the community,” UA Tech Parks Arizona Associate Vice President Bruce Wright said.

“ It's not just beneficial for the U of A, but it's creating the economic dynamics that can really raise us as a relatively low-wage community to a high wage community,” he said.

“You get this kind of churn effect working where there's research of roughly $650 million at the university equates to ideas,” Tech Launch Arizona Vice President David Allen said. “We had 188 ideas that we worked on last year. Over the next couple of years, some of those will come out as companies.”

Tech Launch Arizona helped create 11 companies last year and expects to grow that number every year.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/27331121/a-different-homecoming-keeping-bright-minds-boosting-business