Albuquerque, NM – October 24, 2014 UNM President Robert Frank presented an update on developments with the Innovate ABQ innovation district project to UNM’s Economic Development Forum (EDF) at its meeting yesterday. EDF is chaired by UNM School of Engineering Dean Joseph Cecchi. EDF members from numerous business and government organizations along with university administrators and faculty, listened to the President explain how UNM is advancing and accelerating its economic development goal as part of the University’s 2020 strategic planning initiative. The President focused on three areas of activity and the entities contributing to achieving the economic development goal:
- Leveraging public-private partnerships with the aim of promoting economic development through Innovate ABQ
- Developing a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation among students and faculty with the aim of fostering economic development in New Mexico through the Innovation Academy
- Streamlining university policies to ensure growth of its intellectual property portfolio for high economic impact through STC.UNM
The President also spoke about the strong community support for Innovate ABQ and its milestones and activities to date, including achieving external funding to purchase the First Baptist Church site, closing on the site, developing a separate corporation and governance structure for the project, and ongoing master planning, which is scheduled to be completed in January 2015.
For more news, see Dan Mayfield’s October 23rd article, “UNM president says improving Downtown key to Innovate ABQ success,” from Albuquerque Business First, at http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/10/23/unm-president-says-improving-downtown-key-to.html?page=all.
Source: Albuquerque Business First
For more information, contact:
Dan Mayfield
(505) 348-8308
dmayfield@bizjournals.com