Recipe for an Innovation Community

Defining what does and does not make an innovation community was an important part of the Urban Land Institute's Fall Meeting for 2018.

According to ULI panelist Tim Gaidis, vice president and senior project designer in the St. Louis office of design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm HOK, innovation centers are growing all over the country, “What an innovation community is not is a gathering just of physical space,” and are more than buildings alone, adding, "They are strategically built around the idea that we are more than the sum of our parts, especially with access to the most important ingredient of all: a diverse community of big thinkers and risk takers.” Doug Woodruff, executive and senior vice president of development at Wexford Knowledge Communities in the Western region adds that urbanity and cultural diversity are some of the "right amenities" essential to innovation communities.

St. Louis’s Cortex is a successful example of an innovation community, he added. A tax-exempt 501(c)3, Cortex was formed in St. Louis in 2002 by Washington University, BJC Healthcare, St. Louis University, University of Missouri—St. Louis, and Missouri Botanical Garden to capture for the area the commercial benefits of university and regional corporate research. “Cortex has amenities around it that support the companies—places where people can live, work, play, entertain—all the things you need today,” Gaidis explained.

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