Al-Hallaj says that his companies? affiliation with UTP is already starting to pay off. ?With All Cell, we approached the City of Chicago about working on a ?Plug-In? version of the hybrid Ford Escape. Our affiliation with IIT gave us a lot of credibility. If I had gone to the city on my own, I don?t think I would have received the same response.?
While UTP is largely being marketed to and suited for biomedical engineering and life-sciences companies, another client, a digital data storage start-up called Cleversafe, is growing steadily thanks in part to a talented workforce: IIT students.
Chris Gladwin, Cleversafe?s founder and CEO, says he moved his company into 3424 South State and began hiring IIT students last winter. It started with one part-time student, then two, and now 15 current or recently graduated IIT computer science and design majors are among his 22 employees.
Gladwin says that compared to employees with backgrounds in one area of expertise, students have proven to be more creative and adaptable. ?This is my third major start-up; at the previous two, I hired people who had 20 or 30 years of experience,? says Gladwin. ?IIT students are better for the work we do: it?s technology-driven, but creative. It?s better suited for smarter, creative people, and these students have what we?re looking for.?
Cleversafe is benefiting from IIT students in other ways. In March, as part of a contest run by the College of Architecture, two architecture students were selected to design Cleversafe?s new office in the Tower, to where the company will expand this summer. Another student won the rights to be project manager.
 ?That sort of thing would not happen if we weren?t at IIT,? Gladwin says. ?I?ll have access to brilliant architects, and I have a great story to tell my clients about why my company is interesting. And because we?re on a campus at a major research university, we have a lot more credibility.?
Creating a Win-win-win Situation
At the outset of IIT?s 1996 Master Plan, created by Trustee Dirk Lohan as part of the National Commission for IIT, the south end of campus was designated for future commercial development. In 2000, President Lew Collens saw an opportunity for an on-campus technology park to give faculty the chance to be more entrepreneurial and to form more companies of their own.
With IIT able to leverage existing buildings on campus, the campaign for UTP began. In October 2005, the City of Chicago, at IIT?s request, created a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district on the south end of campus. This designation enabled Wexford to receive $13.4 million in tax increment financing, allowing it to renovate the building and still charge affordable rents to technology companies.
The UTP construction timeline now coincides with the creation of IIT?s 2010 Plan?the set of university priorities that will capitalize on IIT?s strengths in research and academics into the next decade. The university has identified life sciences, energy and sustainability, entrepreneurship, and its continued Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) program as key priorities. Roberson says that UTP will marry well with the initiatives included in the 2010 Plan. As UTP evolves, company employees could propose new IPRO projects and offer the participants appropriate feedback, and students could provide companies with reasonably priced market research, accounting services, and other business assistance?thereby enriching the students? own entrepreneurial experience.
?Since UTP expects to house companies from a variety of areas, it will have a very positive impact across IIT. The opportunity for students to engage with firms right on campus is wonderful, and faculty members have the opportunity to be on advisory boards for companies and to act as part-time consultants,? says Roberson, who will serve on the board of Cleversafe. ?The companies can get experienced people to help support them, while faculty have the opportunity to delve into the ?real-world challenges? associated with the areas they?re interested in, all in the context of an entrepreneurial business environment. It?s a terrific win-win-win situation.?
If UTP is as successful as other university-affiliated research parks, its benefits could extend well beyond the immediate community. Research parks have had a transformative effect on their local economies: Stanford University?s research park, and more recently, Research Triangle Park?a collaboration between Duke University, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina?Chapel Hill?are two such examples.
?Ours is a more modest goal focused on trying to create economic growth to complement the residential and commercial activity here now,? says Baker. He cautions that while attracting occupants to a park of this size always presents a risk, ultimately, IIT?s ownership of UTP is a distinguishing factor when compared to other technology parks within the Chicago area, including Illinois Science + Technology Park in Skokie, which opened in 2005.
?Our selling point,? says Baker, ?is that we are looking for companies that want to be on a university campus, to employ our students, and to use the academic and research resources that we have here. That?s a main difference between what?s happening here compared to the more industrial focus of the Skokie facility.?
A Broad Effort
As activity at UTP, and UTP itself, continues to advance, so, too, will the area surrounding the park. A variety of amenities planned for the neighborhood are expected to help attract UTP?s clients and prospective residents to the neighborhood. This includes a new federally funded Metra stop at 35th and Federal streets, which Baker anticipates will be completed within five years, and commercial and residential development.
A new residential development directly south of the Tower, Park Boulevard, officially broke ground in December 2005. The privately held, 1,300-unit, mixed-use community?which will rise in place of a former public housing site?will include spaces for restaurants and other businesses. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley had strong praise for the complex, referring to Park Boulevard as a place that will ?rebuild the souls? of the people who will live there.
With the development of UTP and its surrounding neighborhood underway, a series of projects more than a decade in the making are just beginning to transform what was once a bustling metropolis for music and commerce in Chicago. As the city, state, and IIT work together to realize this goal, the university?s commitment through UTP is shaping up to be a bold investment in the neighborhood that once thrived around IIT.
Says Roberson, ?It?s synergistic: as UTP becomes more successful, it will contribute to the surrounding environment, which will in turn contribute to UTP?s success. It?s a virtuous cycle.?
www.universitytechnologypark.com
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