KILLEEN — Having attended his first university research park summit Wednesday at Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen, Copperas Cove Economic Develpment Corporation Director Fred Welch said he was pleased with what he heard.
“I think it’s positive,” Welch said during a break. “I think anything that we can bring to this region ... there were some great numbers that were showing in terms of our location or proximity that it’s going to allow us to not only capture labor but then attract the investment that comes from this research and development that can grow companies right here. That’s what we want.”
Welch came on board with the city’s EDC in February of 2022, narrowly missing the last summit about the research park.
Forge at A&M-Central Texas — the proposed name of the research park — will provide a place where Texas A&M University-Central Texas faculty, staff, and students — as well as Fort Hood researchers like Operational Test Command — can attract relevant industries to the Central Texas area to collaborate on research with them, according to the university.
The Copperas Cove EDC was named as a silver sponsor during the summit. Welch explained why the partnership is important to the city, such as the number of Cove ISD graduates who complete their degrees at A&M-Central Texas.
There is also the military piece as well.
“We have such a large military community in our city — both in Copperas Cove and Killeen,” Welch said. “Anything we can do to support that family readiness and the ability for these young soldiers to stay here after they finish their service, that’s great; that just makes us better.”
Ideally, the research park will become a hub where the Central Texas area can harness the talent coming from Fort Hood and mesh it with innovation coming from places such as tech savvy Austin.
“There’s a remarkable juxtaposition between the economy that’s happening down in Austin and what’s happening up here in the Killeen area,” said Stephen Coulston, principal at Austin-based firm Perkins & Will.
He was speaking Tuesday at the third annual summit, which aimed to provide an update on where things stand as well as to offer ideas of how to commercialize research and cultivate partnerships and talent. About 100 community and business leaders attended the annual, one-day summit:
A&M-Central Texas enlisted the services of Perkins & Will as the design consultant in 2021 thanks to a federal grant.
“We think there’s opportunities for us to be able to fill in those voids, fill in those spots with partnerships across the region and be able to build those opportunities here as well,” Coulston said.
Coulston explained the proposed design of the campus as intentional, reflecting a blended environment where the research and innovation meshes with academia.
“We’re really beginning to blend those intentionally in a very deliberate way with a component that I refer to as ‘bumpability,’ which is the intentional and purposeful design of spaces in places to create ‘accidental’ interactions,” Coulston said.
Welch said the city could benefit economically from the research park.
“The university setting is not where you can commercialize these applications,” he said. “So, that’s where private business parks on the city side can take these companies and use technologies and grow here, and we can commercialize them in Copperas Cove.”
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