If you build it they will come: Innovation Place celebrates 25 years as home to research and business excellence.

It's hard to imagine it has been a quarter-century since Saskatchewan's provincial government embarked to establish a research park known as Innovation Place. In the 25 year since, however, it's even harder to imagine what Saskatoon, and Saskatchewan overall, would have been like without this grandeur, efficient and responsive research park development.

Perhaps contrived through the theory that 'if you build it, they will come,' Innovation Place began as an initiative of the provincial government in an effort to stimulate growth in technologically advanced areas of commerce. Now, 25 years into its remarkable existence, Innovation Place truly is the model after which other research parks throughout North America are emulating.

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Indeed Innovation Place is commonly identified as one of the most rapidly growing, most successful, university-related research parks in North America. Located adjacent to the University of Saskatchewan, Innovation Place builds on the strengths of the university in agriculture, information technologies, resources and the life sciences, as well as the strengths of the federal and provincial agencies either in, or immediately adjacent to, Innovation Place.

With some of its more prestigious neighbours consisting of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and the Canadian Light Source--to name just a few--Innovation Place's role is to supply facilities, on a commercial basis, to support the research and development community in Saskatchewan.

From a commercial perspective, the 2,000 staff employed by 130 organizations in the 18 buildings within Innovation Place contribute over $262 million per year to the economy of Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. While these tangible benefits speak for themselves, the park has developed a variety of intangible benefits that have concurrently benefited both the park and its tenants.

"We deal with international clients and we have a lot of visitors from around the world that come here," says Don Epp, director of marketing, communication systems with SED Systems, a Canadian Space Agency contractor and one of the park's original tenants. "Certainly our building, but the overall Innovation Place facilities themselves, are really quite impressive I think. We've had a lot of very positive comments from customers with regards to the facilities and the larger park."

"The kind of confidence that that puts in customers' minds in terms of bricks and mortar, solidifies you as a real company that has some decent and modern facilities I think is helpful," he adds. "Especially in the kind of business we're in."

"Innovation Place is definitely a prestigious place to work," concurs Ken Owens, director of corporate services with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), another of the park's original tenants. Owens, whose qualifications include 42 years with the SRC, concedes he's seen firsthand how Innovation Place has developed a revered reputation, which has been beneficial to not only the park itself, but to the region overall.

"The continued addition of facilities, people and companies occupying the research park definitely bring an awareness of Saskatoon's science and technology industry to the local community, as well as national and international markets," he says. "The amenities and services available to the tenants and visitors to the park are second to none."

"I've attended international research park conferences where, 10 years ago, Innovation Place was identified as 'the' agriculture/biotech community that others should model themselves after," Owens continues. "During my attendance at many R and D council meetings we often benchmark the activities and management structure of SRC's and Innovation Place's lab facilities against hundreds of other research labs (mostly in the U.S.A.) like Battel, Shell Oil, Monsanto, Procter & Gamble, and Lawrence Livermore. We are often held as an example for others to follow."

Initially, as Owens' comments point out, the primary sector originally drawn to Innovation Place was that of the agricultural biotechnology sector. Although still serving a prominent role in the businesses that call Innovation Place home, the types of tenants have become much more diversified, allowing the research park to become appreciated as being more multifaceted.

Located on the University of Saskatchewan campus, there is an obvious connection between the research park and the educational institution. This connection has allowed Innovation Place tenants to help retain youth in our province by providing interesting, well-paying jobs for educated candidates. While Agriculture and Commerce have been the primary colleges which have been a feeding source for Innovation Place, that is not to say that they are the only ones building upon the future of our province.

"Innovation Place is a wonderful place," offers Peter MacKinnon, president of the University of Saskatchewan. "It is, of course, on university land, so there is a relationship between the park and the university; with some companies more than others. But nevertheless significant co-operation, collaboration and we hope to see that grow in the future."

"We've also seen some major spinoffs from the university," he continues. "SED Systems, for example, is a spinoff from the Institute for Space and Atmospheric Studies in our Department of Physics. That goes back to the mid-'60s. We all know that SED Systems has been very, very successful and is still very much a going concern and a source of pride in Saskatoon today."

Historically, Innovation Place has grown at an average rate of 40,000 square feet per year. This growth has been patterned after response to demand. In the course of 25 years, Innovation Place has gone from 150,000 square feet to more than 1 million square feet and the future looks incredibly bright for continued growth.

The source of Innovation Place's success can be attributed to its ability to take advantage of the various conditions set before it and then doing all they could to work with their tenants in a collaborative way. Seeking anything but a win-win solution was not particularly appealing.

Innovation Place's accommodating nature is exemplified in its relationship with SED Systems. Originally SED had ownership of its building, but in the early 1990s at the request of SED, Innovation Place took possession back on the property and has since served as SED's landlord.

"There are some flexible arrangements," SED's Epp says of Innovation Place's relationship with its tenants overall. "There are larger buildings like ours, then there are smaller spaces that are available for start-up companies etc. So Innovation Place tends to serve the needs of a variety of different sizes of companies with different needs."

Right from the start, Innovation Place made sense for SED Systems, says Epp, who credits Innovation Place for allowing SED Systems the opportunity to convene at one location 18 years ago. Previously with locations scattered about the airport industrial area, SED came to Innovation Place as a means to coalesce and grow their business systematically. "Coming together under one roof obviously had some efficiencies for us that we've benefited from," Epp says.

Philom Bios, the first private sector tenant of Innovation Place, has also grown both with, and thanks to, the renowned research park. Company founder John Cross says that the park was an integral part of his company's presence in the early days, crediting their impressive bricks and mortar. Having now come a long way since their modest beginning, Philom Bios is now in its fourth location at Innovation Place.

"As we grew, Innovation Place was able to accommodate us," Cross says. "The key thing for us as a success contributor, Innovation Place always operated on a business-like basis--there were no freebies. So that meant companies that were on a solid footing were the type of tenants they were looking for."

"But at the same time, management was always very accommodating," he continues, going on to offer the following example. "There were times when, as I'm sure is the case with many types of business, you were wondering just where the next dollar was coming from. We needed to get more fermentation capacity and to have a laboratory built to accommodate these fermenters. And we just didn't have the cash."

"So they did all of the tenant improvements and then they amortized the cost over five years and were able to add that to our rent. There's an example of being very business-like, but very accommodating. There are so many examples like that which, I think, have led to the success; the way management of Innovation Place has conducted itself."

Therefore, it is with somewhat mixed emotions that Philom Bios has recently purchased its own building off site of Innovation Place. But Cross insists that Philom Bios will maintain a presence at the park--likely in the greenhouse capacity.

Seeing some tenants relocating beyond the park's boundaries is just another part of the evolution of the research park, says Austin Beggs, director of corporate relations with the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation, the Crown corporation responsible for Innovation Place. Beggs believes one of the main contributors to the park's success has been its ability to adapt to the conditions set before it. Indeed growth has been the key word at Innovation Place, and will continue into the future as well.

A provincial Crown corporation, Innovation Place has evolved as an entity as well as structurally. No longer simply a single-site organization, its mandate now is for the development of research parks and research facilities provincially. To that end, Regina Research Park and the Saskatchewan Forestry Centre in Prince Albert have been added under the Innovation Place banner in 2000 and 2005 respectively.

Aside from the Saskatchewan Forestry Centre celebrating its Grand Opening this fall in its spacious, state-of-the-art facility in Prince Albert, Beggs says Regina Research Park will also be adding at least one other building to the fold next year, while another new building could be added to the Saskatoon location within the next year as well.

"We're never ever going to be done (growing), we'll just continue to evolve into something else to suit the marketplace as it exists 15, 20, 25 years from now."

"I'm not trying to sound like some kind of visionary, but I really believe that there's no limit to our growth," he concludes. "There are millions of opportunities in the province for scientific- and technology-related development. There's equally that many more around the world, and there's no reason that Saskatoon and Saskatchewan can't take advantage of that sector of activity."

"The only limits would be our own lack of vision and fear of the future. I don't think we lack in either one of those."

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