Richardson Innovation Quarter, or The IQ, is a 1,200-acre industrial area east of Central Expressway that, for the past several years, has been the subject of an in-depth, city-led revitalization effort. The vision for the area is that it will become the "premier tech hub in Texas," according to a 2018 vision statement.
Richardson and UT Dallas plan to share the city-owned facility at 1302 E. Collins Blvd., Deputy City Manager Don Magner announced during Richardson City Council's April 5 work session. Magner said part of the vision for The IQ is to develop "a space to stimulate collaboration across business, attract new jobs and strengthen partnerships."
Richardson will have some city personnel office in the 27,500-square-foot facility, while UT Dallas plans to create a new Center for Emergent Novel Technology, or CENT-IQ, in its portion of the building.
"The CENT-IQ will feature a series of co-working space, research and lab space and will represent a wide range of disciplines from multiple schools within the system," Magner said. "In addition to the CENT-IQ, an extension of UT Dallas' Venture Development Center will operate out of the Collins facility, and [the university] will actually have staff that will be present there."
UT Dallas also plans to house five new research centers at the facility, Magner said. Those research centers will include The Center for Applied AI and Machine Learning, The Center for Applied AI at the Richardson Innovation Quarter with UT Dallas Expertise, The Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation, The Multi-Scale Integrated Interactive Intelligent Sensing Center and The Center for Smart and Connected Mobility.
Construction work on the Collins Boulevard facility is expected to begin in July with plans for the building to open by February 2022, Magner said.
"The neat thing is these centers, for the most part, exist or are morphing into [what was] described tonight, and the work they're doing is ongoing," Mayor Paul Voelker said. "We don't have to have the building open for some exciting things to be developed and created with the target being The IQ for companies or intellectual property or other things that come from all this effort by UTD. So I'm extremely excited."
