By Kim Hilsenbeck
Combining the power of a growing city located on the I-35 corridor, a well-respected university with thousands of business and engineering students, and the innovation and ingenuity of high tech firms and you’ve got the big one. STAR One, that is.
STAR One is Texas State University’s 20,000-foot facility for research and commercialization. The building sits on 38 acres of farmland now called STAR Park on the southwest side of San Marcos.
The idea was to create a research incubator that would entice collaborations between businesses and the university. STAR stands for Science Technology Advanced Research.
Last Thursday, heavy hitters including business leaders and elected officials from across the city, Hays County, the state and even the national scene descended on San Marcos to discuss STAR One and its potential to rival Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
Of the university, Texas Congresswoman Judith Zaffirini said, “It’s such a blessing to the city and to the state,” to a crowd of about 125 gathered at the Embassy Suites conference center for a day-long forum about STAR One.
She was one of several elected officials to speak to the crowd about how to best leverage STAR Park and attract technology start-up businesses to Texas State University.
The park currently has business incubator clients at the STAR One facility: national nanomaterials, MicroPower, Quantum Materials Corp. and SMRC.
Steve Frayser, STAR Park’s executive director, said STAR One is an interaction between the public and private sectors that creates an environment that supports innovation and collaboration.
“Establishing a partnership and interaction with the university is key,” Frayser said of the relationships he hopes to build with companies.
The day culminated in guided tours of the facility. Frayser told visitors that companies that want to come to STAR One must agree to a relationship with the university.
