Texas Tech’s $29M Innovation Hub and Research Park opens

LUBBOCK – It is open for research, business and learning: Texas Tech officially opened the Innovation Hub and Research Park, a $29 million facility located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Fourth St. and Quaker Ave.

The new building is intended to inspire innovation, entrepreneurialism and partnerships between public and private entities, according to Robert V. Duncan, senior vice president for research at Texas Tech.

With 40,000 sf of space for the partnerships between Tech, the TTU Health Sciences Center and businesses, Duncan said there should be room for businesses that exist independently of Tech and those inspired by Tech professors and researchers.

Duncan specifically cited MicroZap, a food-sterilization company that started from research in the Tech College of Agriculture. MicroZap will be one of the companies to locate in the Innovation Hub, he said.

Texas Tech President M. Duane Nellis said the university is bridging a gap between research and industry with the Innovation Hub, and it will contribute to the entire area’s economic success.

“This facility will not only benefit Texas Tech University, but the community and our surrounding region,” Nellis said.

The president said Tech officials hope the Innovation Hub will generate new jobs, economic opportunities and prosperity for the area.