Infusing new life into an obsolete auto factory campus, Dayton's 40-acre
Tech Town technology park has become a hub for young start-up companies and big names in the aerospace industry who cluster in the region because of Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the research it attracts.
"It's quickly becoming a national center for sensing technology," says Larrell Walters, director of
IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology), one of the first tenants in Tech Town.
IDCAST has created 280 jobs in its 42 months of operations, says Walters, and it has attracted many young companies to the area who are active in advanced sensing technology.
Another job and research magnet for Tech Town is the
Dayton RFID Convergence Center, a radio-frequency identification incubator that has helped generate more than 50 new jobs since it opened a year ago, says Steve Nutt, vice president of CityWide Development Corp., which manages Dayton's development strategy.
"When they started they had applications from as far away as Australia and New Zealand," says Nutt of the RFID incubator. "Just one year after opening they have 12 new businesses located here."
Besides IDCAST and RFID, Tech Town is home to 29 companies, from two-person start-ups to big names like Boeing and General Dynamics. Eight universities are also among the tenants.
Tech Town gives them the ability to collaborate and provides ready access to the
U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the
University of Dayton Research Institute, with roughly 700 full-time researchers.
Source: Larrell Walters, IDCAST, and Steve Nutt, CityWide Development Corp.Writer: Val Prevish