Construction expected to take five to 10 years
On Feb. 21, UC Davis unveiled a partnership between IBM and its off-campus innovation center, Aggie Square. The highly-anticipated collaboration will include a group of specialists from IBM working with both Aggie Square staff and the UC Davis Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement.
IBM is notoriously innovation-driven, and creators of Aggie Square hope to embody this same sentiment. Todd Bacon, the IBM vice president and managing director of California, echoed this belief in a press release.
“Innovation and collaboration are part of our [IBM’s] rich history,” Bacon said. “That’s what Aggie Square represents.”
The Aggie Square satellite campus project is the creation of Chancellor Gary May and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and is, in part, modeled after Technology Square — a similar project headed by May while he was at Georgia Tech. The project was initially unveiled in late 2017.
May and Steinberg created the framework for a new technology and innovation campus that would be an extension of UC Davis in hopes that it would enhance the economic well-being of the greater Sacramento region and the state as well as further the partnership between UC Davis and the City of Sacramento.
Last year, UC Davis secured approximately $2.8 million in funding from Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature for Aggie Square.
The new campus will focus mainly on healthcare and technology, as well as offer housing and provide locations for outside businesses.
Members from IBM will join Aggie Square in a newly-leased building in Sacramento on Stockton Blvd., just south of the UC Davis Medical Center.
“This is a great win for our city,” Steinberg said in a press release. “We are thrilled to be part of this unique collaboration that will bring jobs and opportunity to our community.”
Specific projects that the team anticipates working on include advancing human health, enriching lifelong learning and enhancing emergency technologies
Although Aggie Square will take five to 10 years to complete, UC Davis is hoping that this collaboration will not only spark growth, but also anchor investments for the up-and-coming research center.
Written By: CLAIRE DODD — campus@theaggie.org
