The Research Triangle Park

A Different Lens for RTP

You know those projects that take on a life of their own once they start? Placing RTP’s Master Plan project in this category would be an understatement – but in a refreshing sort of way. For the past six months, I’ve had the privilege of serving as the project manager/quarterback/person who gets to figure out where to find the answer to various questions, etc. with Cooper, Robertson & Partners and the rest of the consulting team we contracted with to take on this historic task.  In addition to being able to work with a group of thoughtful, insightful professionals who have wholeheartedly taken on the task of helping the Foundation lay the course of success for the Park’s next 50 years, I’ve also gotten a first-hand perspective of what goes into building a 50-year strategy — and the delicate balance between identifying activities in the here and now that will make a difference while not taking any actions that would preclude the Park from being able to answer to future trends/R&D needs.

The most recent “ah-ha’ moment I encountered was while catching up on some reading for another project. In making my way through Richard Florida’s The Great Reset, I was reminded of how the founding of RTP was a spatial fix in the 1950s for the ongoing trend toward suburbia and the desire by corporations to conduct their R&D in isolated campuses. Fast forward 50+ years to an R&D environment where much has changed, but much has also stayed the same. One could argue that the work being undertaken for the new Master Plan is setting the stage for another fix – one that takes the positive benefits of concentrating a critical mass of cutting edge companies, researchers and technical experts and gives them spaces and connections to ensure their innovations continue to flourish. In this new “fix,” there will be greater emphasis on supporting incubation and entrepreneurship to grow the Park’s future tenant base and on providing amenities and other uses within our boundaries that will keep them and our existing companies in RTP. And doing so in a way that preserves the parts of the Park model that continue to make sense and make it a unique place.

Couple this line of thinking with work the Foundation did with the Institute for the Future when we posited in a white paper entitled “Future Knowledge Ecosystems” that going forward, research parks and innovation places will be important not only for who discovers and innovates within their boundaries but also for the connections they have with their immediate region and peers around the globe. In the new global norm where companies search for the best locations to host high-value, specialized and innovation-related activities and where they invest in regions to gain access to highly-trained labor pools, R&D and commercialization capacity, innovation networks and unique business infrastructure, RTP and places like it will be in a very competitive position.

How will all of this great thinking and precedence be used in the final Master Plan? At this point, it’s hard to tell. We’ll likely see different sorts of uses in the Park while amplifying some of the things that make us so special. We’ll likely see RTP playing up its “green-ness” and leveraging the technological advances developed in many of our Park companies to create a more sustainable and “smart” environment for R&D activities. Suffice it to say that it’s been an interesting journey thus far and a great lesson in ensuring that delicate balance of near-term needs and future aspirations.