The Nebraska Innovation Campus
As a part of the ongoing discussion about the 2015 Pillars, UNL was asked to define what a research campus could look like if the land now occupied by State Fair Park would become available.

University officials have worked with RDG Consulting in Omaha to develop a model for a research campus, called the Nebraska Innovation Campus. The campus is modeled after the Centennial Campus at the University of North Carolina, and includes public and private technology development space to encourage private entrepreneurs to work with UNL research faculty.

The proposed model research campus would link the City and East campuses. Two key buildings would be renovated in the architectural style of the current 4-H Building and the Agricultural Expo Building, preserving the heritage of the State Fair.

The Nebraska Innovation Campus conceptual model proposes approximately 1.6 million gross square feet of public / private research and support space.

• Public: 623,000 sq. ft.
• Private: approx. 1,000,000 sq. ft. of retail and support services

Research as economic development
The use of the property for research development would expand the success already being demonstrated at the George W. Beadle Center at UNL. The Beadle Center was constructed 12 years ago at a cost of approximately $26 million, with $6.2 million of that funded by state dollars.

Since opening in late 1995, the Beadle Center has been a major factor in advancing the life sciences at Nebraska. Researchers housed there have won more than $100 million in research funding and have had three major research programs founded there -- Redox Biology Center, Nebraska Center for Virology, and the Plant Science Initiative. This represents real economic investment -- a return on the original investment in only 11 years more than four times the original construction cost. This success represents the equivalent of more than 3,000 jobs.

Research is an important driver of our economy and it's critical to construct additional buildings to continue this important life-enhancing research and economic growth.

Financial impact for the future
Building such a campus would be phased in over time as funds became available from public and private sources.

The Mayor's Arena Task Force has advocated that the State Fair co-locate with the Lancaster Events Center at 84th and Havelock Avenue. The task force report indicates potential costs of co-location at that site at $78.4 million. The Phase I consultant's report to the Legislature's Agriculture Committee Oct. 1 estimated building an ideal state fair from the ground up could cost $175 million plus land costs, however, co-locating at the Lancaster Events Center would take advantage of some existing facilities.