ASU, Scottsdale celebrate SkySong milestone
<p>ASU President Michael Crow and Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, along with the project's development partners and contractors, officially celebrated the completion of a construction milestone Feb. 1: the structural framing of Building I, a 157,000-square-foot, four-story office/research/retail building at SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, located at the intersection of Scottsdale and McDowell Roads.</p><separator></separator><table border="10" cellpadding="7" width="290" align="right" bgcolor="#ffffff" bordercolor="#ffffff"> <tbody><tr valign="top" bgcolor="#ffffff" bordercolor="#FFFFFF"> <td width="250" align="center" valign="top" bgcolor="#ffffcc"><p align="left"><strong>Global businesses Sebit, Ubidyne choose SkySong </strong></p><separator></separator><p align="left">SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, soon will be the home for two global U.S. headquarters.</p><separator></separator><p align="left">Sebit, an eLearning company from Turkey, and Ubidyne, a wireless technology developer from Germany, will launch operations in Arizona this month. For both firms, their SkySong operations will be their first entries into the U.S. market. <a href="http://www.asu.edu/news/stories/200702/20070202_sebit.htm"><strong>Read more</strong></a></p><separator></separator></td> </tr></tbody></table> <p>Phase I of the project is scheduled to be completed and will welcome tenants late this summer. Plans for all phases of construction over the next 10 years call for more than 1.2 million square feet at full build-out.</p><separator></separator><p>The completed project will feature designs for innovative companies whose global business success is enhanced by a facilitated collaboration with ASU's human and technological assets. It will be a vigorous, 21st century center for innovation, commercialization, entrepreneurship and business development.</p><separator></separator><p>“SkySong embraces ASU's vision in creating a New American University that is a center for innovation, creativity and an entrepreneurial culture,” Crow says. “It will be home to local and global businesses, and ASU programs, all committed to stimulating new forms of commerce, research, technology, art and education that will advance Scottsdale and the Phoenix metropolitan area economically, socially and culturally.”</p><separator></separator><p>Crow also announced two new tenants to SkySong: Sebit, an eLearning company from Turkey , and Ubidyne, a wireless technology developer from Germany. For both firms, their SkySong operations will be their first entries into the U.S. market.</p><separator></separator><p>“I believe this is an incredible time to invest in southern Scottsdale,” Manross says. “The ASU-Scottsdale SkySong project has created a ‘buzz' in the research and science community, as well as the retail and real estate markets. Now that we can all see the development taking shape, I believe the area will experience even greater interest in reinvestment.”</p><separator></separator><p>ASU will be one of the key tenants of the first phase. The university will occupy about half, or 80,000 square feet, of the first building at the center. Several premier ASU programs that facilitate the transfer of technology developed at ASU into the marketplace – and that develop new entrepreneurial talent from within the university and business community – will be located at SkySong, including Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) and ASU Technopolis. In addition, the university will have interdisciplinary research programs in engineering-related fields.</p><separator></separator><p>SkySong will become a focal point for the intensification and expansion of programs in these fields and the development of new research in this area.</p><separator></separator><p>Many of the ASU programs that help take technology into the classroom and challenge the way we learn will be represented or based at SkySong. These programs focus on digital learning, technology training, and curriculum development and teacher training in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.</p><separator></separator><p>As a teaching and learning enterprise, ASU's presence at SkySong will be another example where the university serves the community in which it lives. ASU is in discussions with the Scottsdale Unified School District and Maricopa Community College District regarding participation and expansion of education related programs at SkySong. The unique combination of research disciplines will facilitate the creation of relevant curricula and teacher training to provide work force skills for future technologists.</p>