What is an Innovation District?
The trend is to nurture living, breathing communities rather than sterile remote compounds of research silos
Pete Engardio ('Research Parks for the Knowledge Economy', Bloomberg Businessweek)
A new complementary urban model is emerging – “Innovation Districts”. These districts are geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster to connect with start-ups, business incubators and accelerators.[1] They are compact, transit accessible, technically wired and offer mixed-use housing, office, and retail.
Innovation districts alter the location preferences of people and businesses and in the process, re-conceiving the link between economy shaping, place making and social networking.[1] The most innovative institutions, firms and workers crave proximity to facilitate the sharing of ideas and knowledge seamlessly. Open innovation economies reward collaboration, transforming how buildings and entire districts are designed and spatially arrayed. Our diverse population demands more and better choices of where to live, work and play, fuelling demand for more walkable neighbourhoods where housing, jobs and amenities intermix.
Globally, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Medellin, Montreal, Seoul, Stockholm and Toronto contain examples of evolving districts. In the United States districts are emerging near anchor institutions in cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cambridge, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Diego. They are developing in Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Seattle where under-utilised areas are being re-imagined and remade. Still others are taking shape in the transformation of traditional ex-urban science parks like Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham which are scrambling to keep pace with the preference of their workers and firms for more urbanised, vibrant communities. Innovation districts have the unique potential to spur productive, inclusive and sustainable economic development.[2]
At a time of plateaued growth Innovation Districts provide a foundation for the creation and expansion of businesses and jobs by helping companies, entrepreneurs, universities, researchers and investors, across sectors and disciplines, co-invent and co-produce new discoveries for the market. An Innovation District such as Australian Education City offers the prospect of expanding employment and educational opportunities for Melbourne’s West and other key locations in Australia.
Innovation districts alter the location preferences of people and businesses and in the process, re-conceiving the link between economy shaping, place making and social networking.[1] The most innovative institutions, firms and workers crave proximity to facilitate the sharing of ideas and knowledge seamlessly. Open innovation economies reward collaboration, transforming how buildings and entire districts are designed and spatially arrayed. Our diverse population demands more and better choices of where to live, work and play, fuelling demand for more walkable neighbourhoods where housing, jobs and amenities intermix.
Globally, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Medellin, Montreal, Seoul, Stockholm and Toronto contain examples of evolving districts. In the United States districts are emerging near anchor institutions in cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cambridge, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Diego. They are developing in Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland, Providence, San Francisco and Seattle where under-utilised areas are being re-imagined and remade. Still others are taking shape in the transformation of traditional ex-urban science parks like Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham which are scrambling to keep pace with the preference of their workers and firms for more urbanised, vibrant communities. Innovation districts have the unique potential to spur productive, inclusive and sustainable economic development.[2]
At a time of plateaued growth Innovation Districts provide a foundation for the creation and expansion of businesses and jobs by helping companies, entrepreneurs, universities, researchers and investors, across sectors and disciplines, co-invent and co-produce new discoveries for the market. An Innovation District such as Australian Education City offers the prospect of expanding employment and educational opportunities for Melbourne’s West and other key locations in Australia.
[1] Select excerpts come from the recent book, The Metropolitan Revolution, co-authored by Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley
[2] Select excerpts from The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America, co-authored by Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner (Brookings, 2014)
[2] Select excerpts from The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America, co-authored by Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner (Brookings, 2014)
How Does an Innovation District Work?
Innovation districts constitute the ultimate mash up of entrepreneurs and educational institutions, start-ups and schools, mixed-use development and medical innovations, bike-sharing and bankable investments - all connected by transit, powered by clean energy, wired for digital technology...
Bruce Katz & Julie Wagner ('The Rise of Innovation Districts', Brookings)
Globally, innovation districts contain economic, physical and networking assets. When these three assets combine with a supportive risk-taking culture they create an innovation ecosystem, a synergistic relationship between people, firms and place (the physical geography of the district) that facilitates idea generation and accelerates commercialisation.
An innovation ecosystem is; the combination of a number of assets such as firms, institutions and organisations that drive, cultivate or support an innovation rich environment. A key to the success of AEC Innovation District will be delivery of key anchor tenants. In legacy Science Parks this has generally been the core university – it is now the key industry partners.
Industry Themes within our Innovation District will have core anchor industry tenants, for example: IBM, Cisco and Honeywell will establish research centres at our Innovation District proposed for the East Werribee Employment Precinct site. Research focused industry activity will draw in research and teaching faculties from universities who can leverage off the innovation demands of industry and also provide highly skilled graduates and researchers for employment – within the ecosystem. Australian Education City’s industry themes will have major anchor tenants to drive the demand-pull of other industry players, universities and research institutes.
Innovation Drivers are research and medical institutions, large firms, start-ups and entrepreneurs focused on developing cutting-edge technologies, products and services for the market.
Innovation Cultivators are companies, organisations or groups that support the growth of individuals, firms and their ideas. They include incubators, accelerators, proof-of-concept centres, tech transfer offices, shared working spaces and local high schools, job training firms and community colleges advancing specific skill sets for the innovation-driven economy.
Neighbourhood Amenities provide important support services to residents and workers in the district. This ranges from medical offices to grocery stores, restaurants, coffee bars, small hotels and local retail (such as bookstores, clothing stores and sports shops).[i]
Physical Assets are the public and privately-owned spaces, buildings, open spaces, streets and other infrastructure, designed and organised to stimulate new and higher levels of connectivity, collaboration and innovation. Physical assets can also be divided into three categories:
Networking Assets are the relationships between actors, such as individuals, firms and institutions that have the potential to generate, sharpen and accelerate the advancement of ideas. Networks fuel innovation because they strengthen trust and collaboration within and across companies and industry clusters, provide information for new discoveries and help firms acquire resources and enter new markets.[iii]
The inclusion of networking as its own asset category is supported by a growing body of research that reveals how networks are increasingly valuable and prolific within innovation-driven economic clusters. Scholars cite numerous advantages of networks: they are important sources of new or critical information for new discoveries; they encourage experimentation and are a testing ground for ideas; they help firms acquire resources; they strengthen trust and collaboration within and across sectors; and they help firms enter new markets including global markets.
An innovation ecosystem is; the combination of a number of assets such as firms, institutions and organisations that drive, cultivate or support an innovation rich environment. A key to the success of AEC Innovation District will be delivery of key anchor tenants. In legacy Science Parks this has generally been the core university – it is now the key industry partners.
Industry Themes within our Innovation District will have core anchor industry tenants, for example: IBM, Cisco and Honeywell will establish research centres at our Innovation District proposed for the East Werribee Employment Precinct site. Research focused industry activity will draw in research and teaching faculties from universities who can leverage off the innovation demands of industry and also provide highly skilled graduates and researchers for employment – within the ecosystem. Australian Education City’s industry themes will have major anchor tenants to drive the demand-pull of other industry players, universities and research institutes.
Innovation Drivers are research and medical institutions, large firms, start-ups and entrepreneurs focused on developing cutting-edge technologies, products and services for the market.
Innovation Cultivators are companies, organisations or groups that support the growth of individuals, firms and their ideas. They include incubators, accelerators, proof-of-concept centres, tech transfer offices, shared working spaces and local high schools, job training firms and community colleges advancing specific skill sets for the innovation-driven economy.
Neighbourhood Amenities provide important support services to residents and workers in the district. This ranges from medical offices to grocery stores, restaurants, coffee bars, small hotels and local retail (such as bookstores, clothing stores and sports shops).[i]
Physical Assets are the public and privately-owned spaces, buildings, open spaces, streets and other infrastructure, designed and organised to stimulate new and higher levels of connectivity, collaboration and innovation. Physical assets can also be divided into three categories:
- Physical Assets in the public realm are the spaces accessible to the public, such as parks, plazas and streets that become locales of energy and activity. In innovation districts, public places are created or re-configured to be digitally-accessible (with high-speed internet, wireless networks, computers and digital displays embedded into spaces) and to encourage networking (where spaces encourage “people to crash into one another”)[ii]. Streets can also be transformed into living labs to flexibly test new innovations, such as in street lighting, waste collection, traffic management solutions and new digital technologies.
- Physical Assets in the private realm are privately-owned buildings and spaces that stimulate innovation in new and creative ways. Office developments are increasingly configured with shared work and lab spaces and smaller, more affordable areas for start-ups. A new form of micro-housing is also emerging, with smaller private apartments that have access to larger public spaces, such as co-working areas, entertainment spaces and common eating areas.
- Physical Assets that knit the district together and/or tie it to the broader metropolis are investments aimed to enhance relationship-building and connectivity. For some districts, knitting together the physical fabric requires remaking the campuses of advanced research institutions to remove fences, walls and other barriers and replace them with connecting elements such as bike paths, sidewalks, pedestrian-oriented streets and activated public spaces. Strategies to strengthen connectivity between the district, adjoining neighbourhoods and the broader metropolis includes infrastructure investments, such as broadband, transit and road improvements.
Networking Assets are the relationships between actors, such as individuals, firms and institutions that have the potential to generate, sharpen and accelerate the advancement of ideas. Networks fuel innovation because they strengthen trust and collaboration within and across companies and industry clusters, provide information for new discoveries and help firms acquire resources and enter new markets.[iii]
The inclusion of networking as its own asset category is supported by a growing body of research that reveals how networks are increasingly valuable and prolific within innovation-driven economic clusters. Scholars cite numerous advantages of networks: they are important sources of new or critical information for new discoveries; they encourage experimentation and are a testing ground for ideas; they help firms acquire resources; they strengthen trust and collaboration within and across sectors; and they help firms enter new markets including global markets.
Leading Examples of Innovation Districts
Our inspiration for a liveable and sustainable city combines the key elements of mixed use, density, connectivity, high quality public realm, local character and adaptability. Australian Education City has embraced the best Innovation Districts around the world to help us create an exciting economic initiative.
22@Barcelona
22@Barcelona is the most important project of urban transformation of Barcelona city. The 22@Barcelona project transforms two hundred hectares of industrial land in the Poblenou–an industrial neighbourhood, with a complex urban fabric and detachment from Barcelona.
For more than 100 years, Poblenou has been the main economic driving force of Catalonia and the ultimate industrial neighbourhood of Barcelona. With the 22@Barcelona project the historical social and economic vitality of Poblenou is being resumed by transforming obsolete industrial areas into a space of high urban and environmental quality and with new activities linked to knowledge and innovation.
The 22@Barcelona project has been warmly received by the business community: an estimated 4,500 new companies have moved to the district since 2000, an average of 250 per year and 0.7 per day. Of the 4,500 companies, 47.3% are new start-ups (the remainder have relocated to 22@Barcelona from other locations) and 31% are technological or knowledge-based companies.
The number of people working in Poblenou has risen significantly. 22@Barcelona is home to approximately 56,000 new workers (~50% in university and education sectors), which is forecast to reach 150,000.
For more than 100 years, Poblenou has been the main economic driving force of Catalonia and the ultimate industrial neighbourhood of Barcelona. With the 22@Barcelona project the historical social and economic vitality of Poblenou is being resumed by transforming obsolete industrial areas into a space of high urban and environmental quality and with new activities linked to knowledge and innovation.
The 22@Barcelona project has been warmly received by the business community: an estimated 4,500 new companies have moved to the district since 2000, an average of 250 per year and 0.7 per day. Of the 4,500 companies, 47.3% are new start-ups (the remainder have relocated to 22@Barcelona from other locations) and 31% are technological or knowledge-based companies.
The number of people working in Poblenou has risen significantly. 22@Barcelona is home to approximately 56,000 new workers (~50% in university and education sectors), which is forecast to reach 150,000.
Boston Innovation District
In 2010, former Boston Mayor Tom Menino outlined a bold vision for a Boston Innovation District arguing, “There has never been a better time for innovation to occur in urban settings ….”
Reconnected to the city with the “Big Dig” and Bos-ton Harbor Cleanup projects, Boston’s once-isolated Seaport is transforming into a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. While lacking a world-class research engine or an established cluster of firms, a powerful regional knowledge base combined with good infrastructure provided a strong foundation for growth. Since designation, more than 200 technology, life science and other companies have moved into the District, adding over 6,000 jobs.
Several unique assets have helped to create what is now a dynamic, collaborative environment. Mass-Challenge, the world’s largest startup accelerator, provides shared office space and no-strings-attached grant financing to startup firms from around the globe. District Hall is the world’s first public innovation building, providing civic gathering space for the innovation community. And Factory 63 is an experiment in “innovation” housing, offering both private micro apartments and public areas for working, socializing, and events.
Success has wrought growing concerns about affordability. Private investment is expected to add thousands of housing units over the next few years.
Reconnected to the city with the “Big Dig” and Bos-ton Harbor Cleanup projects, Boston’s once-isolated Seaport is transforming into a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. While lacking a world-class research engine or an established cluster of firms, a powerful regional knowledge base combined with good infrastructure provided a strong foundation for growth. Since designation, more than 200 technology, life science and other companies have moved into the District, adding over 6,000 jobs.
Several unique assets have helped to create what is now a dynamic, collaborative environment. Mass-Challenge, the world’s largest startup accelerator, provides shared office space and no-strings-attached grant financing to startup firms from around the globe. District Hall is the world’s first public innovation building, providing civic gathering space for the innovation community. And Factory 63 is an experiment in “innovation” housing, offering both private micro apartments and public areas for working, socializing, and events.
Success has wrought growing concerns about affordability. Private investment is expected to add thousands of housing units over the next few years.
Our ThinkingThought-leadership is at the heart of our vision. We feel it is important to share emerging trends and our views on what future cities and innovation districts will look like.
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