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The ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº has a statewide network of 10 research parks and business incubators, each designed to help faculty, entrepreneurs and businesses collaborate to move innovative research to the marketplace.

Parks managed by the UM System

Discovery Ridge
In 2005, the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº Board of Curators approved the development of a section of Columbia’s South Farm for a new research park. The belief was, and continues to be, that the research occurring in the living fields and laboratories at South Farm, and at the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº, will attract tenants who desire close proximity to innovative intellectual resources. It is the mission of the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº System Office of Research and Economic Development to link research and commercialization from the system’s four campuses with emerging and existing firms across the state — Discovery Ridge does just that.

Missouri Research Park
Owned and managed by the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº System and located in St. Charles, MO, the Missouri Research Park officially opened in 1985. Today, more than 180 acres of land in the park are developed for high-tech and research facilities. 

ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº Technology Park at Fort Leonard Wood
The objective of the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº Technology Park at Fort Leonard Wood is to provide a strategic location, on post, for businesses and professional organizations that conduct business with, and support the mission and goals of, the United States Army.

Parks managed by UM System campuses

ITE is a business incubator that supports innovation in a wide-variety of fields including IT and the life sciences, providing the physical, mentoring, business development and computational resources required for startup companies to grow. Featuring both wet and dry-lab facilities and a high-performace computing center (HPCC) staffed by on-site Ph.D. scientists, ITE provides the expertise to help startups, in a wide variety of technical fields, solve fundamental R&D and business development issues, including those that require sophisticated computational resources. UMSL founded and administers the ITE small business incubator.

The Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Innovation Park in Rolla, MO, will encompass approximately 60 acres of University-owned property adjacent to the current Missouri S&T campus and will include a business incubator. This site will be developed to create a mixed academic and private research park to enhance economic activity in the South Central Missouri region.

UMSL Research Park - UMSL Campus
To supplement the space offered at the Missouri Research Park, UMSL has a 100-acre business, technology and research park located on the University's north campus next to Highway 70. The research park, which has attracted substantial interest from both small and large ventures, is now home to the headquarters of Express Scripts Inc., one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers. ESI is the largest Fortune 500 company with corporate headquarters on a university campus.

Parks managed by UM System partners

Since 1998, the Center for Emerging Technologies (CET) has provided the specialized facilities, knowledgeable support services, entrepreneur training programs, and access to capital needed to establish and develop next generation bioscience, medical and other advanced technology companies. CET’s operations are supported by the Missouri Technology Corporation, City of St. Louis and private donors

The Center of Research, Technology and Entrepreneurial Exchange (CORTEX) is an office and research district in mid-town St. Louis created by a nonprofit consortium formed by the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº-St. Louis, Saint Louis University, Washington University, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The Missouri Plant Science Center in Mexico is a partnership between the ÎçÒ¹Ó°Ôº, Missouri Technology Corporation and the City of Mexico. The nearly 25,000 sq. ft. facility houses wet and dry labs, offices and has unique pilot/scale manufacturing capabilities to process soybeans and other plant-derived materials into value-added products. The center brings together cutting-edge plant science research with the ability to develop the manufacturing processes needed to commercialize new discoveries. The facility attracted its first tenant, Soy Labs LLC, to Mexico from Fairfield, CA. Soy Labs is an emerging plant science company including soy-based ingredients for the food and health industries.

The facility and incubation program in Columbia, MO, are operated by the Missouri Innovation Center, a public non-profit organization specializing in assistance to entrepreneurial technology firms.