UA Tech Park Contributes to Southern Arizona’s Economy
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UA Tech Park Contributes to Southern Arizona’s Economy
Media Release
May 20, 2010
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(Tucson, Arizona) The University of Arizona is releasing a report detailing the performance of the UA Tech Park and its significant contribution to Tucson and Pima County’s economy. The report, Economic Impacts of the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park - Calendar Year 2008, is available at www.uatechpark.org.
The UA Tech Park contributes $3.0 billion annually to Pima County’s economy. Total dollar impact is estimated based on output, wages and tax revenue. UA Tech Park tenants paid $593.3 million in direct wages to their employees.
The average wage for a UA Tech Park worker was $85,500 in 2008, more than twice the Pima County average of $39,900. Employment at the UA Tech Park has steadily increased since 1997. On average, the UA Tech Park has added 250 new jobs every year, over the past eleven year period. Most of the annual growth is the result of additional high wage jobs for skilled workers. UA Tech Park employment growth has outperformed the Tucson Metro Region, State of Arizona and the United States.
“The UA Tech Park is a critical component of the Southern Arizona high technology economy. The employment growth at the Park demonstrates the importance of a knowledge-based economy especially during periods of economic recession,” said Bruce Wright, Associate Vice President for University Research Parks.
The UA Tech Park has also significantly contributed to the tax revenue base. Ongoing operation Park tenants’ generated $14.3 million in tax revenues. The UA Tech Park was responsible for an additional $63.5 million of induced tax revenues. An additional $67,600 in tax revenues were generated from construction and visitor-related activities. In total, an estimated $77.9 million in tax revenues from the UA Tech Park tenant and related activities was distributed to state, county and city governments.
The UA Tech Park is a major regional employment center with approximately 7,000 employees. The employee base is drawn from the entire metropolitan region, including the Towns of Marana and Sahuarita, with a high concentration in the southeastern region of Tucson. The Park is also part of the Tucson Tech Corridor which is home to more than seventy businesses including: Raytheon, IBM, Citi, Target.com, Offshore, Arizona Canning Company, and Global Solar.
The UA Tech Park is almost fully occupied with 40 businesses and educational tenants. The report states, “Facing the current economic recession, vacancy rates of Tucson Metro and the United States had increased rapidly since the second half of 2007; however, the vacancy rate at the UA Tech Park had been stabilized in the 2-3% range.” The UA Tech Park is 98% leased and outperformed the Tucson metropolitan market during FY 2007-2008
Beyond the measurable economic impacts, the UA Tech Park works as a center for innovation and technology commercialization, workforce development and community engagement. The UA Tech Park is moving forward with several new developments indentified in its recently adopted ten year business and financial plan. The UA Tech Park’s next big ideas include: the development of a 200 acre Solar Zone to bring different aspects of the solar industry together in a supportive environment for generation, manufacturing/assembly, R&D, education, and public demonstration and the development of a hotel and conference center as well as the development of critical infrastructure requirements.
For fifteen years, the UA Tech Park has contributed to regional economic development by advancing the University of Arizona’s research mission and its efforts at technology development and technology commercialization. The UA Tech Park is also home to the Arizona Center for Innovation, a high technology business incubator, and three educational institutions - UA South, Pima Community College, and Vail High School. The UA Tech Park has been nationally recognized as one of the premier university research parks in North America.
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