Southern Indiana Business Report
BLOOMINGTON — Joe Carley has been named interim CEO of the new Uplands Science and Technology Foundation (USTF), a non-profit research foundation dedicated to enhancing the vitality of WestGate@Crane Technology Park. The USTF will lead the physical development of WestGate as an innovation district and grow the park’s capabilities in emerging technology areas such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.
WestGate is located outside the gates of Naval Support Activity Crane, the third-largest Naval installation in the world. The park is currently home to more than 50 organizations and more than 850 employees. The USTF will complement the WestGate Authority and Purdue@WestGate by providing leadership for the park’s physical development, marketing and attraction functions, and innovation and engagement activities.
“I’m honored to serve the Uplands region in this role and to build on the work of the many partners who have helped make WestGate Technology Park a unique asset for our state,” said Carley. “Throughout the process of creating USTF, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best minds in the country on building innovation communities, and I believe that we have a roadmap for WestGate that has the potential to be transformative for the region and the state.”
Carley, who currently serves as Indiana University’s director for economic development and the director for strategic partnerships at the IU Center for Rural Engagement, will lead USTF on a loan basis from IU.
“IU has a deep interest in ensuring that the regions around our campuses grow and prosper,” noted IU Vice President for Government Relations and Economic Engagement Bill Stephan. “We are pleased to be able to provide support for this important initiative and look forward to seeing USTF become a vital partner for Crane and the Indiana economic development community.”
Tina Peterson, president and CEO of Bloomington-based Regional Opportunity Initiatives, will serve as the chair of the USTF board of directors. “Never has the potential of WestGate been more relevant and significant than at this moment,” she said. “With defense sector growth in the Uplands 68 times greater than that seen across the nation, the Indiana Uplands has an important role to play in ensuring we have both the ecosystem and the assets necessary for technological innovation to thrive for the benefit of our state and our nation. WestGate is positioned to become one of our country’s most influential research destinations, and the USTF will be instrumental in catalyzing innovative activities at WestGate.”
Greg Deason, senior vice president of alliances and placemaking at Purdue Research Foundation, and John Mensch, president of the WestGate Authority, will serve on the USTF board along with other economic development, university and defense leaders.
ROI led the process of charting a new roadmap for WestGate over the past two years. USTF was established in late 2021 by a consortium of key regional organizations following the completion of a master plan for WestGate by TEConomy Partners and Perkins + Will. These two firms had previously collaborated on master plans for other technology parks in close proximity to defense installations, including a master plan for Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama.
Since the completion of the master plan, the steering committee of regional and state leaders has worked closely with The University Financing Foundation (TUFF) on implementing the plan’s vision. TUFF, a national expert on developing research parks and innovation districts, is advising USTF on governance, programming and real estate matters.
About Regional Opportunity Initiatives
In 2015, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded three grants to three organizations totaling $42 million to fund regional development initiatives identified in the 2014 Strategic Plan for Economic and Community Prosperity in Southwest Central Indiana. Regional Opportunity Initiatives was formed in 2016, alongside the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement and the Indiana Innovation Institute. ROI’s mission is to grow potential and possibility through a focus on advanced industry sectors, regionalism, transformative school and workforce redesign, and placemaking strategies in the Indiana Uplands region: Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties. More information can be found at https://regionalopportunityinc.org/.