Saturday, September 06, 2008

Get a handle on this Sci-Tech park thing

Oak Ridge Science and Technology Park recently held its groundbreaking, the first such development within the campus of a national science laboratory, a project managed by a community nonprofit organization. Earlier, of course, Chattanooga's Enterprise South Industrial Park got the nod from Volkswagen. Enterprise South is also home to such scitech ventures as E-Spin, a nano play. Over in Memphis, Memphis BioWorks and local institutions are pressing forward on the UT-Baptist Research Park, sure to be a magnet for innovation. Closer to home, Williamson County has the Cool Springs Life Sciences Center, anchored and driven by BioMimetic Therapeutics, with strong support from Vanderbilt and others. So far, nothing of the sort emerging in Metro/Davidson County. Proposals for redevelopment of the Metro Fairgrounds site drew arguments for mixed-use office-retail, entertainment (including keeping the State Fair there) and sports (Sounds baseball and the existing racetrack). Although there's another TVA Megasite up the road in Clarksville (Montgomery County), as previously reported in The VN Blog there are still no plans for a science-technology R&D park inside 530-square-mile Davidson County, yet.

No comments: