Going Global: The UA Tech Park's International Intent
Global Reach | November 2014
Click the image to read the full magazine, including the Tech Parks Arizona article on page 18
With its new direction as part of Tech Launch Arizona, the University of Arizona’s technology commercialization arm, the UA Tech Park is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new strategy focusing on more active recruitment of firms eager to collaborate with the University.
Global Advantage, the Tech Parks’ business attraction program, was launched this year to provide customized solutions for companies that seek a unique combination of services and connections with the University of Arizona.
Global Advantage attracts technology companies to the Arizona-Sonora region, both nationally and internationally, and offers companies a significant array of services and programs to give each a business advantage. Global Advantage provides world-class solutions to innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large multinational corporations that seek business entry into the North American marketplace and a competitive venue in which to develop their ideas, produce their goods, and benefit from the logistics advantages of the location and surrounding international business ecosystem.
The program focuses its strategy on bringing in targeted companies that complement the University of Arizona’s research strengths in fields like:
• advanced energy
• defense and security
• bioscience
• mining technology
• agriculture, arid lands and water
• intelligent transportation systems/smart vehicles.
These specializations incorporate technology companies in cross-cutting industry sectors such as sustainability, optics and imaging, advanced manufacturing and informatics.
“It’s a comprehensive strategy for attracting technology companies to the tech park and to the region that want to have relationships with the University,” said Bruce Wright, associate vice president of Tech Parks Arizona.
The new strategy is part of the aligned direction that the Tech Parks are taking under the leadership of Tech Launch Arizona and Vice President David Allen.
The strategy aims to more actively identify companies keen to collaborate with the UA and other tech-park tenants, and help them leverage the tech park’s advantages in regional market access, collaborative resources for business and product development, skilled workers and facilities such as offices and lab space.
Attraction teams have been formed to work with prospective companies in the key areas. Each team is comprised of a UA researcher, an industry expert, a Tech Parks business-development leader, a representative from an economic-development group and a UA intern.
The Israel Business Initiative
The Israel business initiative, a component of the Global Advantage, is designed to connect with Israeli technology companies seeking an entry point into the North American market. Many of the target sectors represent strong synergies between the state of Israel and the areas of excellence shared by the University.
Tucson and the University of Arizona have strong ties to Israel. The UA leads the International Arid Lands Consortium, which includes membership by the Jewish National Fund. The University also has partnership agreements with Ben Gurion University, Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. Several professors have direct research ties with the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
Building World Connections
To build a globally connected network, Tech Parks Arizona is reaching out to both domestic and international markets. The Tech Parks are connecting domestically with businesses to the north in Maricopa County along the 101 Corridor and to the west in California. International areas of recruitment beyond Israel include Mexico, South Korea and Europe with the entry point being Switzerland. These target regions have a high concentration of technology focused companies that complement each other and bring a wide variety of new collaboration opportunities.
People interested in learning more or getting involved can visit the Global Advantage website or email globaladvantage@uatechpark.org.
