Representatives from Indiana University School of Medicine joined business, government and community leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking of the 16 Tech Innovation District, a 60-acre community that will take shape on the near west side of Indianapolis.
16 Tech is designed to spark innovation and collaboration by bringing together the best minds in Central Indiana from the life sciences, tech, advanced manufacturing and engineering fields. IU School of Medicine will be one of the inaugural tenants in the district’s first new building, which is expected to be complete in mid-2020.
An eye toward collaboration
The school will occupy approximately 12,000 square feet of the Advanced Research and Innovation building, which will house part of of its newly established Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine; a molecular therapeutics program focused on Alzheimer’s disease that is part of the IU Precision Health Initiative; and a technology incubator that is a partnership with IU Health and will support faculty entrepreneurs working on the development of drugs, devices and health-related information technology with the goal of bringing their discoveries to market.
“For research discoveries to become new therapies, devices and diagnostics, our physicians and scientists must collaborate with experts from other fields. This is a place that will make that happen,” James B. Dimond, IU School of Medicine’s executive associate dean for finance and administration, told the crowd of more than 200 people who gathered at the December 12 groundbreaking. “This campus will serve as a bridge—forming critical connections so the most promising ideas can travel from the laboratory to the clinic to the marketplace.”
In addition to IU School of Medicine, the building will house the headquarters for the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI) and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP).
A community of innovators
The first phase of 16 Tech, to be built out over the next 10 years, will also involve development of an office building and apartment complex and renovation of the former Citizens Energy Group headquarters into an innovation hub. The district, envisioned as a “live-work-play-learn” environment, is located just across Fall Creek from IU School of Medicine.
“We fully expect that the work taking place here will have far-reaching implications,” Dimond said. “This building will serve as an incubator and hub for our faculty entrepreneurs who are tackling some of the most pressing health problems facing our city and state.”
