The tenants of Saskatchewan’s two research parks added $444 million to the provincial economy in 2003, says Austin Beggs, Innovation Place director of marketing and corporate development.
The figure, which translates to more than one percent of the province’s gross domestic product, is based on staff payroll and local purchases of goods and services.
In addition to job creation and local expenditure, Beggs said research parks diversify the provincial economy, attract new development, support commercial use of intellectual property and expand the tax base.
Innovation Place, located at the University of Saskatchewan, sells or rents facilities to support the research and development community in Saskatchewan. With more than one million sq. feet of laboratory, processing plant and office space, it is one of the fastest growing university-related research parks in North America. The parks’ 122 clients, 28 percent of which are in the agricultural sector, employ 2,000 people.
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“We try in both parks to build on the strength of the university. Obviously one of the strengths of this university is agriculture,” said Beggs.
Regina Research Park at the University of Regina houses 29 clients, mainly focused on the information technology and petroleum sectors.
Although both parks have international clientele, local companies make up the majority of the businesses.
“They are much more likely to stay as they grow. When you get into attracting clients you always run the risk that when the incentives run out, the company will pick up and leave. … Local organizations have a very strong loyalty to this city.”
According to Beggs, clients of the parks benefit from the clustering of like-minded businesses, access to university facilities and social, business and technical amenities.
John Cross, CEO and chair of inoculant company Philom Bios, was Innovation Place’s first commercial tenant in 1981.
“In our business our raw material is intellect and here we are sitting in Saskatoon where right next door we have this immense pool of talent in the life sciences, agriculture especially. This is all probably the largest concentration of life science knowledge in North America right here in Saskatoon,” he said.
“But the other thing an enterprise needs is markets. Where we’re sitting right now, we are close to 100 million acres of market. It’s ideal. Anyone like us, who are in the agricultural technology business, couldn’t be in a better place.”
In addition, Saskatchewan’s research parks help retain local graduates, said Beggs. Fifty-eight percent of Innovation Place employees are graduates of the U of S, and 19 percent are from the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. In Regina, 50 percent of employees are U of R grads and 20 percent from Saskatchewan technical schools.
