Skysong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center
| Skysong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 2008 |
| Type | Public |
| President | Michael M. Crow |
| Location | Scottsdale, Arizona, United States |
| Website | Skysong |
ASU Skysong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center,[1] located on a 42-acre (17 ha) center in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a robust platform that supports firms entering or expanding within the United States. ASU SkySong is an innovation center designed to help companies grow by providing business services and programs offered or facilitated by Arizona State University.
ASU SkySong, established in January 2008, is Arizona's global knowledge portal offering a variety of in-house services to assist foreign firms enter the United States marketplace. These services include access to new technologies, capital networks, business education and a skilled workforce. In this highly collaborative environment, individual entrepreneurs, global enterprises, ASU students, faculty, staff and community members connect to bring new technologies and innovations to the local and global marketplace.
With its combination of resources from ASU, one of the largest research universities in the U.S., and the presence of multinational corporations and investors, SkySong attracts knowledge workers and corporations from around the world, creating working relationships that builds a greater ASU network between academia and commerce. Developing interactive relationships among mentors, suppliers, startup technology companies, subject experts, legal advisors and investors, SkySong is a business incubator focused on global growth.
SkySong is the home for innovation and entrepreneurship at ASU, including: • Acceleration of high potential startup companies by ASU Venture Catalyst[2] who offer a multitude of services and programs to help entrepreneurs. Their feature programs include student ventures who are funded by the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative,[3] a statewide initiative that uses licensing technology and intellectual property from Arizona's premiere research institutions by the Arizona Furnace,[4] and their signature Rapid Startup School[5] that offers a unique series of pracademic courses for startups in order to teach beginners how to be entrepreneurs. • Student pipeline ventures are seeded by the Entrepreneur Advantage Project.[6] • Student entrepreneurial internship experiences are facilitated through Sun Devil Entrepreneurship Network.[7] • ASU Online[8] hosts innovative web-based and off-campus-classroom-based academic programs for Arizona State University. • ASU Technopolis[9] provides training and mentoring to entrepreneurs, while also creating linkages with university research units and larger companies in SkySong’s network. • Intellectual property commercialization is performed by Arizona Technology Enterprises.[10] • Venture capital is accessible through firms like Pacific Southwest Ventures. • Connections to ASU technology efforts are provided through alt^I[11] and Technology-Based Learning and Research. • Linkages to product development happen through InnovationSpace.[12] • Legal expertise is available through Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, and through the ASU students in the Technology Venture Services Group.[13]
Structure
SkySong is a mixed-use project, eventually consisting of 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2) of office, research and retail space, and a hotel/conference center at full build-out. In addition to the commercial space, SkySong will include multi-family residential units. Currently, two 4-story buildings, each approximately 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2), frame the Eastern half of the east-west boulevard intersecting the center. Built with flexibility in mind, the buildings are designed to accommodate any tenant's space needs whether small start-up companies, expanding businesses or regional operations. The center has abundant and redundant power and robust bandwidth capabilities to integrate state-of-the-art digital infrastructure into flexible office and research space.
Anchored by an iconic 120-foot-tall (37 m) tensile shade structure designed by FTL Design Engineering Studio, the campus is built around a densely landscaped grand boulevard that will eventually be lined by ground-floor shops and restaurants with offices above. The shade structure is envisioned as a vital civic space surrounded by ethnic restaurants, cafes, bookstores and shops. The area beneath is not only the crossroad of the project but the symbolic center of global enterprise for the region.
The perimeter is landscaped with dense native vegetation, screening parking and creating inviting, open spaces. By adopting innovative and environmental programs into the construction, SkySong is the largest privately funded LEED certified project in Arizona.
Notes and references
Coordinates: 33°27′49.75″N 111°55′26.50″W / 33.4638194°N 111.9240278°W