Wednesday, November 6, 2019

PLENARY SESSIONS
8:30 AM UNIVERSITIES AS A CATALYST FOR INNOVATION
Dr. Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Arizona State University
Dr. Chaouki Abdallah, Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Georgia Institute of Technology
Universities are essential and uniquely positioned to support and advance grand challenges and accelerating innovation with industry. With deep talent pools, wide arrays of facilities, and access to creative thinking and problem-solving, universities should dedicate their resources in support of such projects and leverage people, programming and place.

9:15 AM - COMMUNITIES OF INNOVATION DRIVING UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS
Tony Boccanfuso, PhD, President, UIDP
Additional speakers to be announced
The importance of industry-university partnerships to an institution’s overall research enterprise is increasing and gaining more attention than ever before. This session will consider contemporary approaches being used by universities to attract companies to their parks, and explore how companies are leveraging these opportunities to meet their business and workforce goals. Speaker will share some unique partnership approaches and highlight an example from the region in a conversational setting.

10:15 AM - BENCHMARKING REPORT 2019: ROLL OUT OF THE AURP-TECONOMY PARTNERS STUDY
Mitch Horowitz, Principal and Managing Director, TEConomy Partners, LLC
Working in conjunction with Mitch Horowitz, TEConomy Partners’ Managing Partner, glean the true and impactful power of your park, innovation district and community. The data presented from recent surveys will measure our research communities’ progress since the 2012 study. Mitch will give us a sense of what is trending in our sector and provide a preview of what will be included in our final impact report.

CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS

MAKING AN ECONOMIC IMPACT: RESEARCH PARKS IN KNOWLEDGE CITIES
Daniel Duncan, President, AURP; Executive Director, Nebraska Innovation Campus
Laura Frerichs, Director, University of Illinois Research Park and University of Urbana-Champaign Economic Development
Kate Hier, AIA, NCARB Architect, Laboratory Planner Principal, The Clark Enersen Partners
As an alternative to large city innovation districts, this session will focus on how knowledge cities can leverage university Research Parks for economic growth, using smart design and assets unique to those environments. Two Research Park directors and a higher education architect will present on:
1) Identifying opportunities for your knowledge city and activating partnerships
2) Designing and developing infrastructure, including specialized facilities
3) Setting up entrepreneurs for future success

ACTIVATING CORPORATIONS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
Carie Davis, Startup Relations & Program Director, Bridge Community
Corporations can be a critical asset in the development of a sustainable startup ecosystem - they offer real business challenges for startup inspiration, become customers to help startups grow, and have a pool of talent with deep domain expertise who can mentor or join the startup ecosystem as founders. Formerly Global Director of Innovation + Entrepreneurship at The Coca-Cola Company and head of The BridgeCommunity Atlanta, a startup commercialization program in partnership with Coca-Cola and other F500 companies, Carie is currently building a global startup commercialization ecosystem as Techpublic. Carie will discuss lessons learned and ideas to support corporate engagement in your communities.

MEASURING BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL: CAPTURING THE FULL VALUE OF YOUR COMMUNITY OF INNOVATION
Deborah Cummings, Principal and Senior Director, TEConomy Partners, LLC
Research parks and innovation districts continually face the challenge of explaining their value to a wide range of stakeholders.  This session will examine how research parks can go beyond traditional measures to better capture the full value they are bringing to developing innovation ecosystems and catalyzing the growth of innovation-based economies.  It will offer both hands-on examples, and recent studies to inform how research parks can effectively implement more contextualized measurement approaches to map, track, and report on the functional benefits they are generating to their diverse set of stakeholders.  

LUNCHEON / GENERAL SESSION
THE FUTURE OF FOOD
Michael Britt, Vice President of Innovation, Southern Company Energy Innovation Center
Mario Cambardella, Urban Agriculture Director, City of Atlanta, Mayor's Office of Resilience
Technology touches everything in our lives, including the food on our plates. This session addresses the ins and outs of AgTech, and how both urban and rural university parks and innovation districts can provide the programming and place for collaboration in this important area. With speakers representing a wide variety of stakeholders the session will dive into current trends through the eyes of those experts fully entrenched in the implementation, innovation and regulation of AgTech.

CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Additional sessions to be announced

INSIGHTS ON DEVELOPMENT OF A LIFE SCIENCE / BIO SCIENCE REGIONAL ECOSYSTEMS
Rob Demont, Director, Life Science Industry Ecosystem Engagement, Metro Atlanta Chamber
Vic Nole, Director, Life Science Incubator, Mayo Clinic Florida
Tiffany Wilson, CEO, Global Center for Medical Innovation
Hear from the panelists the motivation for creating their program, its operating model,  how it is connected into their regional innovation ecosystem and how they engage with the private sector and university programs.  This session will emphasize the role of ecosystem building and some of the unique considerations for these types of programs when establishing and growing an innovation ecosystem.

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY CENTER CONSORTIUM
Todd Greene, Atlanta University Center Consortium
Robert K. Jenkins Jr., Senior Managing Director, Renaissance Equity Partners LLC. 
Stan Wall, P.E., Partner, HR&A Advisors
The Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUC) is the largest consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The Center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta. The only location in the nation with four HBCUs commingled, access to industry partners, expanded market presence, student opportunity, and entrepreneurship, the AUC leadership and supporting advisors are creating a unifying vision that will serve the institutions, industry, and community.

CONCURRENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Additional sessions to be announced

AMPLIFYING RESEARCH PARK RESULTS AFTER INCEPTION: NURTURE VS NATURE
David Tyndall, Principal, Gateway Development Services
The sharing of lessons learned as the original private developer of Tech Square gained from his roles in property management, marketing and leasing, and community activation. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how small knowledge cities can thrive, as innovation means economic growth.
- Helping attendees understand the limits of physical facilities in shaping the innovation ethos;
- Offering perspective on the life cycle of an innovation district; and
- Sharing low capital cost secrets to amplify success.

INCLUSION EXTENDING THE BENEFITS OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Cassie Branum, AICP, LEED AP, Senior Urban Designer, Perkins and Will
Stephen Coulston, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, Senior Urban Designer, Perkins and Will
As research parks and innovation districts provide economic returns for universities and industries, they have an opportunity to also support their surrounding communities. This session will begin with an introduction to the topic and overview of supportive activities from employment strategies to educational programming. Then, two case studies will be presented with best practice concepts and outcomes, including: (1) Georgia Institute of Technology's efforts in Atlanta's Westside and (2) Oklahoma City's efforts east of their downtown.

AURP 24TH ANNUAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE RECEPTION and GALA - CODA
Receiving one of AURP’s worthy Awards of Excellence is the greatest honor bestowed at our conference each year. These awards recognize achievements, cutting-edge and innovative park companies and exceptional park leaders who are lumineers and blazing trails within our communities of innovation. Making this year’s gala more special is holding it at the premier mixed-use development: Coda.

COLLABORATION CORE: THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS AT TECH SQUARE
Ambrish Baisiwala, CEO, Portman Holdings

AURP AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE GALA
Presentation of:
Emerging Research Park • Career Achievement • Innovation • Vision •
Leadership • Appreciation • and the new Rising Star!

Awards Emcee: Stephen Frayser, STAR Park, Texas State University

The Association of University Research Parks is proud to present the 24th Annual Awards of Excellence where AURP honors industry leaders.