Dec 18, 2009

An article featured in a special supplement of today's east coast edition of The Wall Street Journal highlights South Bend and its technology parks, Innovation Park at Notre Dame and Ignition Park, as an example of American cities seeking to "catalyze their economies" with research parks.

The article, accompanied by a photo of Innovation Park, describes how urban research parks are being used to "rebuild cities from within." It quotes Mayor Stephen J. Luecke, who describes South Bend's work with the University of Notre Dame to create Indiana's first two-site technology park.

View the article.

Innovation Park at Notre Dame opened this fall, while Ignition Park is now in development.

"Cities around the United States are looking to research parks to catalyze the process of bringing academic research to market, and therefore to catalyze their economies. Parks in South Bend, Philadelphia, Baltimore and St. Louis exemplify the advantages of research parks for urban revitalization," according to the article.

The article appears in a special supplement on research parks, produced on the Journal's behalf by MediaPlanet. Specifically, the supplement was published in the Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal's east coast edition, which has a circulation of 790,000.

"We have a tradition of learning how to make things," Luecke said of South Bend. "There's a strong history here of entrepreneurism and a support system in place, businesses that can provide things that startup businesses need, and a culture supportive of entrepreneurship."

Contact:  Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564