Ignition Park an Indiana State-Certified Technology Park

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Ignition Park is a technology park under development in South Bend, Indiana, USA , on as much as 180 acres of land owned by the City of South Bend.

"Ignition Park signals that this park will spark the creativity of researchers and engineers into the commercialization of new innovative products that we have yet to imagine," says South Bend Mayor Stephen J. Luecke." The name draws on the city's legacy of innovation and heritage in the automotive industry, yet points to our future as a launching pad for high-tech ventures."

It represents the municipal government's response to a decision in 2008 by the Semiconductor Research Corp.'s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) to locate the fourth of its national research centers at the University of Notre Dame. Known as MIND, the Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery is focused on creating the architecture to replace the complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology now in use today. Through MIND, Notre Dame brings together researchers from eight universities, including Purdue University, Penn State University, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas at Dallas, Georgia Tech University and Cornell University.

Ignition Park is one of the two locations in South
Bend that make up Indiana's first two-site State-
Certified Technology Park, which was forged through the City of South Bend's partnership with Notre Dame, Project Future - a local economic development group - and the state of Indiana. The other is Innovation Park at Notre Dame, located on 12 acres on the city's northeast side across from the Notre Dame campus. The first 54,000-square-feet building at Innovation Park was completed in October 2009. Innovation Park at Notre Dame will facilitate commercialization of all forms of research, by convening innovators throughout the entire Notre Dame community (including faculty, students, alumni and partners in the region) and beyond.

Successful companies formed at Innovation Park are encouraged to move to Ignition Park, yet continue to receive support services and other benefits from being part of the same state-certified technology park. Planning is under way at Ignition Park for the siting of 3 million to 3.5 million square feet of high-tech, office and support space. In addition the City is working with the public and private research sectors to establish prototyping facilities at Ignition Park, which early stage companies can take advantage of.

Get a glimpse of the future...

Ignition Park sits on the grounds of the former Studebaker Corp., the legendary auto manufacturer that was the economic and innovative backbone of South Bend until closing its doors in 1963. Since 2000, old abandoned buildings on the Ignition Park site have been demolished in the state's most aggressive brownfield reclamation effort to make way for a high-tech manufacturing, commercialization and office complex of buildings arrayed in a park-like environment.