Wichita State University in talks with more partners for innovation campus

With two companies already in agreement to partner with Wichita State University on its planned new innovation campus, more could be on the way.

Wichita State President John Bardo said Wednesday that the school has been in contact with more than a dozen businesses about a possible partnership with its venture that aims to mesh students with private industry.

“We’ve been talking with 14 or 15 businesses,” Bardo said. “Nothing is final at this point and we kind of have to wait on them, but this is something that will have an impact.”

Bardo’s comments came following the announcement of a $1 million grant for the innovation campus from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. The announcement was made at the National Center for Aviation Training in northeast Wichita.

The grant, which is in addition to a nearly $2 million grant that Wichita State received from the economic development administration last year, will go toward access roadways and water lines to support the buildings that will make up the innovation campus, school officials said.

Airbus signed an agreement earlier this year to move its Old Town engineering center to a new, approximately 90,000-square-foot building on the innovation campus. Bardo said Airbus officials are hoping to move into the new building as early as January 2017.

Wichita State also has an understanding with Dassault Systemes, an international company that specializes in 3-D design software and manufacturing, which is expected to have a presence in the innovation campus’ planned experiential engineering building. Bardo said no agreements have been signed by Dassault Systemes.

“Innovation is going to drive the future,” Bardo said during his address to local political and business leaders, and federal officials at Wednesday’s roll out. “We knew we had to focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. This is where we’re going to get our new jobs and our new wealth.”

Matt Erskine, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, attended the event and made the official announcement of the grant on Wednesday. Bardo said the experiential engineering building could create nearly 450 jobs for the area within three years.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Wichita State University in talks with more partners for innovation campus."