Students will get more real-world experience with technology and entrepreneurship with the opening of ASU's SkySong center in Scottsdale.
The center, set to open in early 2007, is an ASU Foundation-sponsored project to incorporate the global technological community with student-run projects.
SkySong will devote 80,000 square feet to expand ASU programs, as well as host many local entrepreneurs and technological companies, said Don Couvillion, vice president of real estate and development for the ASU Foundation.
Enhanced communication and collaboration between students and the tech companies would benefit students, Couvillion added.
"They can attain employment at these companies as well as reap the benefits of whatever research they are doing," Couvillion said.
Student programs expanding to the innovation center include ASU Technopolis and the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, he said.
Technopolis educates and networks technology and science entrepreneurs. The Edson initiative provides funding for student-led companies.
ASU is looking for more projects to move to the center, but does not know how many programs will ultimately end up there. SkySong is still selecting the final candidates for expansion, but most of them will be related to computing and educational outreach, Couvillion said.
"There are a whole number of those programs, and they vary in size, and they vary in shape," he added.
Terree Wasley, program manager for the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, said the program will continue to have a presence on the Tempe campus but will expand into the Scottsdale facility when it opens.
"We're going into our second year, and the program continues to grow," she said. "We're adding more and more entrepreneurs and student-led companies. SkySong will offer a place for them."
The new innovation center will be good for students because it will allow them to work directly with other companies, Wasley said.
"SkySong is going to be quite a connecting place," she said. "That'll be an excellent opportunity for students to be connected with all those different entities -- investors, small start-up companies. It's a great place for them to be."
InnovationSpace, an undergraduate project that partners with corporations to design products, may also expand into the SkySong center, said Prasad Boradkar, co-director of the program.
The expanded space would allow the program to expand to include graduate students, he said.
"We are hoping that this will put us in the thick of things," Boradkar said. "Having these companies around helps create a new atmosphere of research that will be beneficial to grad students."
Couvillion said the center would also be good for the University.
"If we come up with a new discovery and make a successful business, the money goes back to the University," he said. "Plus all the profits from the center -- and we hope there will be significant profits over time -- go through the ASU Foundation and will be used to support the University."
SkySong will be located at the corner of Scottsdale and McDowell roads. Officials broke ground at the site Friday.
Reach the reporter at tara.brite@asu.edu.
