Old Dominion University, the employer of IAMC member and Site Selection Editorial Advisory Board member John Lombard, director of its Center for Real Estate and Economic Development, is putting economic development theory into action. It announced in November the development of the $80-million Research Park @ ODU. The park will be located in the 75-acre (30-hectare) mixed-use University Village in Norfolk. Designed by UJNM architects of Philadelphia, the park’s first 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,290-sq.-m.), five-story building begins construction in January, with completion anticipated by spring 2007. Old Dominion offices will occupy about 40 percent of the building, including the Lean Manufacturer Institute, Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Computational Intelligence and Machine Vision Laboratory, Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Center for Advanced Ship Repair and Maintenance, National Center for System of Systems Engineering and Office of Spatial and Cartographic Information. Townsend Capital, a national real-estate investment firm headquartered in Towson, Md., is the project owner-developer for the first building. GVA Advantis has been appointed exclusive leasing agent and property manager.

"Innovation Research Park @ ODU demonstrates the priority the university places on leveraging research and academic strengths to support economic development, while providing additional space for our flourishing research enterprise centers," said ODU President Roseann Runte. "It offers an avenue for the university’s research platforms to develop in new directions, such as our world-renowned modeling and simulation program addressing homeland security, transportation logistics and medical imaging."

"Economic growth in today’s economy is increasingly tied to the creation of new knowledge and the development of new processes," said Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Michael J. Schewel. "For that reason, Innovation Research Park @ ODU will be a catalyst for new business and economic development in Hampton Roads and across Virginia." Rick Richardson, director of communications and promotions for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is also an IAMC member, as is C. Jones Hooks, president of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.

The arrival of November saw the arrival of one IAMC corporate member in the territory of an IAMC economic developer member. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of IAMC member company United Technologies Corp. (UTC), announced it had acquired Keystone Helicopter, based in Chester County, Pa., part of the greater Philadelphia metro. Keystone Helicopter, one of the largest and oldest helicopter services companies in the United States, has grown aggressively in the last four years, nearly tripling in size. "Keystone is a great strategic fit for Sikorsky, providing us with proven leadership, a highly skilled workforce, and dedicated operations for the completion, customization, and support to meet the increase in demand for Sikorsky helicopters," said Sikorsky President Steve Finger. "This announcement is yet another sign of our regional economy’s forward momentum," said Mark S. Schweiker, President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. "This region has world-class great strength in the rotocraft industry cluster, and this alliance strengthens that further. Ultimately, this will mean more jobs for Greater Philadelphia." Keystone and its subsidiary CTI employ approximately 650 workers with primary operations in West Chester and Coatesville, Pa., and Grand Prairie, Texas. Charles Veley, director of global real estate for UTC, is an IAMC member, as is Stuart Litvin, CEcD, director of business development for Select Greater Philadelphia.

The dedicated radio-frequency identification (RFID) research lab in Neenah, Wis., operated by IAMC member company Kimberly-Clark Corp. was one of only two facilities to be awarded the first Global Performance Test Center Accreditation Marks by EPCglobal Inc. at its global conference in Atlanta in September. "Today's announcement underscores Kimberly-Clark's leadership position in the adoption and implementation of RFID technology," said Cheryl Perkins, Kimberly-Clark's senior vice president and chief technical officer. "K-C has long been an RFID pioneer — leveraging the technology in an effort to reduce our supply chain costs, increase efficiencies in our operations, and ensure we deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time." Joining Kimberly-Clark as the only other North American facility to receive accreditation from EPCglobal was the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, in Fayetteville. EPCglobal is a not-for-profit organization entrusted by industry to establish and support the EPCglobal Network™ as the global standard for real-time, automatic identification of information in the supply chain of any company, anywhere in the world. Separately, Kimberly-Clark has announced that its overall R&D spending will rise to more than $400 million by 2009, up by more than 50 percent vs. 2004. Leonard Anderson, director, and Greg Saylor, business analyst, are both IAMC members from Kimberly-Clark.

A survey conducted by Harris Interactive for IAMC member company UPS Worldwide Logistics’ corporate parent revealed some distinct cultural differences in supply chain practices between the East and the West. First, Some while 14 percent of U.S. and European executives listed customer loyalty as the most important business issue they faced, only 2 percent of Asian executives felt likewise. The disparity was even more pronounced when it came to outsourcing supply chain functions: While 29 percent of the Asian executives said they had moved "very extensively" or "completely" to outsourcing, only 11 percent of U.S. and European executives had done so. Finally, not only do 71 percent of the Asian executives view China as a "very" or "extremely important" source of manufacturing, but 72 percent of them view it as a "very" or "extremely important" domestic market opportunity. The survey was conducted during the Longitudes conference in Shanghai in October, one of several such conferences organized by UPS in leading global cities. David Baer, vice president of real estate and facilities for UPS Worldwide Logistics, is an IAMC member.

The December 13 deadline is approaching fast for prospective master development partners interested in the 640-acre (259-hectare) KCI Business Park located on the airfield at Kansas City International Airport. The request for proposals was issued by the Kansas City Aviation Department earlier this fall, pursuant to recommendations from "aerotropolis" expert Dr. John D. Kasarda, Ph.D., Institute Director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His report focused on future growth of manufacturing and other business on the overall 10,000-acre (4,047-hectaer) KCI property. More information may be obtained at www.flykci.com. Tim Cowden, senior vice president, business development for the Kansas City Area Development Council, is an IAMC member.