US Secretary of Commerce tours ASU SkySong

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker toured SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, during a recent visit to Arizona to promote economic development initiatives.

At SkySong, Pritzker met with local entrepreneurs to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing them and learn how the federal government can strengthen the nation's startup culture.

Pritzker is chair of the President's Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship initiative, a group of successful American businesspeople who have committed to sharing their time, energy, ideas and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs. As chair of PAGE, Pritzker is exploring ways to replicate around the country successful ecosystems such as SkySong that support innovation and competitiveness.

SkySong is home to a global business community that links technology, research, education and entrepreneurship to position ASU and Greater Phoenix as global leaders of the knowledge economy.

Located on a 42-acre campus at the southeast corner of Scottsdale and McDowell roads in Scottsdale, SkySong is at the heart of the redevelopment of the McDowell Road corridor. Organized around a central plaza with a signature shade structure, it is a mixed-use development with 1.2 million square feet of space, of which more than 760,000 square feet have been built out or are under construction. The development is a joint venture among Arizona State University, the ASU Foundation for A New American University, the City of Scottsdale, the Plaza Companies and the Holualoa Companies.

SkySong-based companies, which range from early-stage startups to large companies such as Ticketmaster and Recruiting.com, have generated more than $460 million in economic impact for the Greater Phoenix area since SkySong’s inception, according to a 2012 study by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.