Take 2: Additional Innovation Districts Advancing Research to Fight COVID

Described below are highlights of the research under way in these 11 additional innovation districts and other geographies of innovation.

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus in Buffalo, New York, is an innovation district with strengths that include genomics, next-generation technologies in vascular medicine, Big Data, AI, and machine learning. Building on their research assets, Buffalo’s efforts to address the virus include the following:

Cleveland Health Tech Corridor in Cleveland, Ohio, is a district with research specializations in health care and in biomedical and high-tech solutions. The district is anchored by Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Cleveland State University. Specific research efforts related to COVID-19 are as follows:

Halifax Innovation District is a growing ocean tech, clean tech, and health- and life-sciences hub in Nova Scotia, Canada. A variety of efforts led by universities and companies are under way here to combat COVID-19.

Liverpool Innovation Precinct in Liverpool, Australia, is a health care and education precinct anchored by Liverpool Hospital, the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, the University of New South Wales, the University of Wollongong, and Western Sydney University. It is currently engaged in the fight against COVID-19 in several ways.

MaRS Discovery District is a Toronto-based innovation hub that works with 1,400 Canadian science and tech companies. The 1.5-million-square-foot MaRS Centre is home to 150 organizations that include research institutions, start-ups, and global technology and science companies. MaRS is part of the larger Toronto Discovery District, which includes nine teaching hospitals and three renowned universities. Many intensive efforts are under way at MaRS-supported ventures, district-based companies, and anchor institutions.

Atlanta’s Midtown Innovation District is anchored by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Technology Square, and elements of Emory University and the Savannah College of Art and Design. The combined efforts of these innovation actors to combat the virus follow.

Oslo Science City  is Norway’s first innovation district. It includes approximately 7,500 scientists, a leading university and university hospital, the Oslo Science Park, and clusters of start-ups. The following research efforts to address the virus are under way.

Research Triangle Park is the largest science park in the United States, situated among the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill in North Carolina. This innovation geography includes Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, along with over 300 companies. Unlike most science parks, RTP is actively increasing its connectivity, accessibility, and number of amenities. Research led by this geography of innovation is as follows:

University City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an innovation district anchored by the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University City Science Center. uCity Square is a mixed-use innovation community within the University City neighborhood operated in partnership by the Science Center (a nonprofit economic development organization), Wexford Science + Technology (a real estate development and asset management company), and Ventas, Inc. (a real estate investment trust). The Science Center was established in 1963 by five educational and medical organizations. Examples of work under way at uCity Square and/or supported by the Science Center to combat the virus follow.

Several other districts have launched efforts to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for protective personal equipment and ventilators. At the same time, these districts are developing new technologies to better understand and analyze the virus, as well as developing new support systems. For example:

Innovation Quarter, established by the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a mixed-use innovation district focused on life science and information technology. Its anchors include the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, and Inmar Intelligence, and it comprises over 100 companies and start-ups. Their research includes the following:

Medellín Innovation District, based in Medellín, Colombia, is anchored by two universities and four local hospitals. Its research is especially strong in the areas of information and communications technology (ICT), energy, and health care. Special projects include the following:

In conclusion, this account of research—though only a partial list—helps illustrate the power of innovation districts to combat this deadly virus. Our time dedicated to further understanding the intricacies of the research under way continued to surface the importance of collaborative research methods in solving highly complex challenges. Microbiologist and virologist Prof. Carlo Federico Perno, director of the Niguarda Laboratory of Analysis in Italy, perhaps best expressed the power of collaboration, when he observed that “Swift collaboration between researchers and clinicians from different institutions, locally and globally, has never been more important, both to understand and to contain the spread of this highly contagious virus.”
Finally, COVID-19 has heightened the urgency of the need for increased—and sustained—financial support for R&D, which now includes data-rich actors leading geospatial analysis, Big Data, and AI. Look no further than your own community to understand how important this is.