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The IQ®Headquarters
The City of Richardson and the University of Texas at Dallas are partnering to form a powerful, on-site partnership in a new Headquarters for the Richardson Innovation Quarter. This new, innovative space will support Richardson’s startup and entrepreneur community and advance UT Dallas research.
The IQ®– HQ @1302 E. Collins Boulevard, Richardson, Texas
04/06/21 – Press Release (PDF)
With its 500-acre campus located in the City of Richardson, The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and City of Richardson have partnered to support the region’s startup and entrepreneur community and develop five new university research centers.
The five new research centers will fall under the umbrella of UT Dallas’ new Center for Emergent Novel Technology at the Innovation Quarter (CENT-IQ). The collaboration establishes a formidable physical and symbolic presence for both the City and UT Dallas in a showcase “HQ for The IQ®.”
This initiative is a critical step in the realization of the Richardson Innovation Quarter vision to be the premier tech hub in Texas. The space will help stimulate collaboration across businesses, attract new jobs, and strengthen partnerships between the City of Richardson, UT Dallas, and the business community.
UT Dallas is a key local driver of innovation that can seed start-ups and provide training for the workforce in the Richardson IQ®. The space, which is owned by the City of Richardson, will serve as the headquarters for the Richardson IQ® and will house several educational, training, and research components from the UT Dallas. In addition, an extension of the UT Dallas Venture Development Center (VDC) will also be located at this facility.
A Collaborative, Innovative Space at The IQ®
The purpose of this innovative space is facilitate collaboration and entrepreneurial networking for Richardson businesses and the North Texas startup community. In 2018, a visioning study was developed for the Richardson Innovation Quarter which identified 10 main strategies. Below are two strategies identified in the Study:
- Create a shared “innovation space” for businesses
- Strengthen partnerships between the City and universities and colleges for programming and marketing
The IQ® – HQ @1302 E. Collins Boulevard advances these goals and is a critical element in Richardson’s growing innovation ecosystem.
Construction work to reactivate and upgrade the multi-purpose facility will commence this summer, with an opening slated for February 2022. UT Dallas will occupy approximately 10,000 square feet of the 27,500-square-foot facility with its Venture Development Center and Center for Emergent Novel Technology at the Innovation Quarter (CENT-IQ). Approximately 3,000 square feet will be dedicated for programs, networking and event space that will attract entrepreneurial and startup activity to the area’s thriving tech business ecosystem. The remainder will be occupied by the City’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, which coordinates with partners to promote Richardson’s 1,200-acre innovation district. Approximately 7,000 square feet will be set aside for future expansion or flexible partnering opportunities. The City-owned building also adjoins the district’s newly extended Duck Creek Trail.
The facility will also be a living test bed for new technology and Smart City initiatives. As part of the improvements to the facility, a new roof top unit incorporating many of the CDC and ASHREA guidelines for addressing COVID best practices, with MERV 14 filters, air cleaning ionizer in all employee area units, and outside air economizer ensure maximum fresh air exchanges will be installed.
UT Dallas Venture Development Center
UT Dallas’ Venture Development Center (VDC) extension in the facility will provide a series of free and paid programs in the facility, including CEO leadership startup boot camps, a series on fundraising, sales and marketing for startups, mentor office hours, networking events, an inspiration speaker series, and a startup internship and career fair. The VDC is a leading incubator designed to help students, faculty and alumni commercialize their ideas and inventions.
UT Dallas Center for Emergent Novel Technology at the Innovation Quarter (CENT-IQ)
UT Dallas’ research centers in CENT-IQ will feature a series of co-working, research and lab spaces that represent a range of disciplines from multiple schools within UT Dallas. Each center will focus on forward-thinking solutions developed from its respective technology specialty, which include applied artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), imaging and surgical innovation, and smart mobility.
The five new, multi-disciplinary UT Dallas research centers are:
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Center for Applied-AI & Machine Learning (CAIML) The Center for Applied-AI & Machine Learning (CAIML) is an outward-facing research-and-development center that will partner with companies to apply leading-edge AI and machine-learning technologies to their products, services, and business processes, in order to address strategically important business challenges. |
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Center for Applied AI at the Richardson Innovation Quarter with UT Dallas Expertise (CAIQUE) The Center for Applied AI at the Richardson Innovation Quarter with UT Dallas Expertise, or CAIQUE (pronounced ‘cake’), is a multi-disciplinary center that will showcase emergent applied AI research to engage companies, win extramural grants, strengthen international partnerships and provide a global network for affiliated students to excel as UT Dallas alumni. |
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Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation (CISI) The Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation (CISI) will bring together engineers and computer scientists from UT Dallas and investigators and clinicians from UT Southwestern (UTSW) to develop emergent technologies to solve unmet medical and healthcare problems, while working together on translational research, clinical trials and product commercialization. |
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Multi-scale Integrated Interactive Intelligent Sensing (MINTS) Center The Multi-Scale Integrated Interactive Intelligent Sensing (MINTS) Center will build on UT Dallas’ remote sensing and machine learning experience to develop and deploy a cost-effective irrigation decision support tool using super-resolution machine learning and remote sensing imagery from satellites, drones and, optionally, security cameras. The tool is intended for – and will be used in collaboration with – municipalities, corporate campuses and individual homeowners to save money by optimizing their irrigation water usage. |
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Center for Smart Mobility (COSMO) The Center for Smart Mobility (COSMO) will provide advanced solutions for the engineering of smart, multi-modal cyber transportation infrastructures to improve safety and enhance mobility for all urban road users. The center is committed to pursuing community engagement, strengthening industry collaboration, accelerating the research transition into the real world, and advancing education and outreach efforts. |
Comments from Richardson Mayor Paul Voelker & UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson
“This major knowledge capital investment by the City and UT Dallas is a critical step in realizing the Richardson IQ® ’s ultimate vision as the premier tech hub in Texas,” said Richardson Mayor Paul Voelker. “We salute our partners at UT Dallas for thinking creatively about how to bring cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research and hands-on support for entrepreneurs to our opportunity-rich innovation district. We expect this formal, tangible commitment to The IQ® to serve as a catalyst that stimulates business alliances, attracts new jobs and inspires brilliant, new ideas that advance the future of global technology right here in Richardson.”
“The City of Richardson and UT Dallas have long had a deeply intertwined, mutually beneficial relationship focused on tech-oriented research, business innovation and training of bright minds,” said UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson. “With this announcement, we are proud to bring teams from across the University’s eight schools to be deeply, directly engaged in the Richardson IQ® for years to come. Working hand-in-hand with the City, surrounding business community and other institutional partners, we look forward to collaboratively solving some of our nation’s greatest business, medical, transportation and sustainability challenges. This new Richardson IQ® nerve center is the ideal environment in which to do so.”
Contacts
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City of Richardson Contact Jenny Mizutowicz |
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University of Texas at Dallas Contact Dresden Goldberg |
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