This week, GRIP was proud to participate in “Minnesota Robotics Day” in the rotunda of the State Capitol. The successful event was hosted by Robotics Alley.

GRIP CEO, Nena Fox, made the following remarks at the event:

For the past 10 months, GRIP has been in the concept planning phase. Our charge during this time was to assess the potential of Minnesota’s robotics economy and determine whether and how a robotics park could serve to catalyze that economy. I’m pleased to provide you with an update on what we’ve accomplished to-date, and upcoming milestones for GRIP.

As part of our diligence efforts, we met with over 200 individuals representing roughly 50 institutions involved in Minnesota’s robotics economy; in addition to myriad others representing organizations based throughout the nation and around the world. As demonstrated here today, we have confirmed that Minnesota’s robotics economy is diverse.
We’ve also confirmed that robotics innovations will have a profound impact on Minnesota’s legacy industries, including bioscience, agriculture, retail, mining and industrial manufacturing – each of which are long-standing consumers of the robotics industry.

As you heard from Andrew, we’ve confirmed that global growth in the robotics industry will be exponential in the coming decades. And that the US is playing catch-up with the rest of the world, after losing its leadership position.

We’ve confirmed that Minnesota is well-suited to compete within the US. But we’ve confirmed that the current potential of Minnesota’s robotics economy is limited because its participants are siloed. At best, this lack of coordination and collaboration just means increased costs to businesses. At worst, it means we lose those businesses, talent and intellectual property to other regions. Our workers need training and jobs, our entrepreneurs need resources, and our businesses need educated, innovative employees to remain competitive.

We’ve confirmed our manufacturing sector is struggling—across the nation and in our state. Redefining American manufacturing is a key priority of the Obama Administration, and we believe it should be a key priority in Minnesota, as well. We’ve confirmed that the robotics industry presents a compelling opportunity to reinvigorate Minnesota’s manufacturing sector.

We’ve confirmed that there is broad interest among Minnesota businesses, educational institutions, and local economic development groups to support our robotics industry through collaborative efforts. And we are here today to share this story with our elected officials. We are here today to discuss how our vision for Minnesota’s robotics economy can complement the economic development efforts of our state leaders.

This fall, GRIP commissioned an Economic Impact Study of the robotics industry in Minnesota to define and assess the value of the robotics industry, and evaluate the potential increase in that value as a result of concerted efforts to create a robotics cluster, including development of a research and industrial park. Our Steering Committee will be meeting to review the final draft report soon.

In addition, we have been engaged in a robust site selection process that has taken us to all parts of Minnesota and neighboring states. Our site selection process has involved careful consideration of location, scale and programmatic opportunities. At this point, we have visited several dozen sites and have narrowed our list down to a handful of prospects.

Within the next two months, we will wrap up the concept planning phase for GRIP and we look forward to sharing our findings and plans with you.

Through GRIP, we aim to leverage the unique expertise and resources of all participants in the robotics industry to create a decisive and sustainable economic advantage in Minnesota for decades to come.

Creating robots, not just using them, is the opportunity. Manufacturing never left Minnesota. We represent a collaboration working to accelerate the actualization of this specific manufacturing opportunity. The results will be a stronger MN economy.

We hope that a key message from today is that Minnesota can be competitive but we need to be collaborative and intentional.

For additional information about Minnesota Robotics Day, check out the following press coverage:

KSTP – Robots Take Over State Capitol

Minnesota Public Radio – Robotics Day at Capitol

Minneapolis Star Tribune Photo Gallery – Robots at Capitol

Robotics Tomorrow, a national online news site for the robotics industry, today published an interview about the Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP).

The interview is a great overview of the vision and plan for developing GRIP in the Upper Midwest.

Look into your crystal ball and give us your vision of what the activities at GRIP will look like in 5 to 10 years?

In my vision, GRIP looks and feels like a cross between a small college campus and a fast-growing high-tech start-up—a thriving, productive, creative community of individuals and teams working on important and exciting robotics projects. GRIP tenants will include established robotics companies of all sizes working on a wide variety of robotics innovations. Some of those companies may move their entire business operation into the park, others will be companies based in other parts of the world that will send a small team of people to GRIP. GRIP tenants will also include R&D groups from large corporations that are working to integrate robotics innovations into their business model. Tenants will also include a variety of entrepreneurs developing new products and launching new businesses in the robotics industry. Academic tenants will include university research institutions working on basic and applied research, often in collaboration with industry tenants. Community and technical college programs will likewise find a home within GRIP, where students can get hands-on experience working with cutting edge equipment on projects of immediate relevance to industry and government.

In my vision, GRIP has its own gravity. It is a destination for the innovative, hardworking individuals working at the intersection of hardware and software who will lead our nation into the so-called Robotics Revolution.

We have a number of exciting recent project updates for the Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP).

Site Selection Update

We continue to move forward on identifying the best potential site for the Global Robotics Innovation Park in the Twin Cities. We have researched and toured dozens of sites in the past six months and have assembled a long list of site criteria.

We have begun conversations with the owners of a few potential properties and are hopeful that these conversation might lead to a site selection announcement soon.

In the meantime, we are always open to considering additional sites. If you know of a suitable property in the Twin Cities metro area, please let us knos.

GRIP Design Team Announced

Earlier this month we announced the selection of Minneapolis-based Coen + Partners and Michigan-based Monica Ponce de Leon Studio to lead the master planning and architectural design efforts for the GRIP campus.

Shane Coen and Monica Ponce de Leon and their teams are talented architects who will make the Global Robotics Innovation Park a landmark for Minnesota technology and economic development. We are particularly excited about integrating Shane’s expertise in the creation of compelling public space with Monica’s work in the robotic fabrication of new construction materials.

Economic Impact Study

Research work continues on our Economic Impact Study of Robotics and Automation in Minnesota. We are beginning to develop preliminary findings and hope to have final research results and a final report completed before the end of the year.

National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)

In October we organized a meeting of Minnesota political, research, industry, and economic development leaders to coordinate a response to the federal government’s request for information regarding federal funding of a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), a cornerstone of President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. Minnesota’s coordinated response (#47) proposed the creation of an Advanced Medical Technology Institute, to focus on the development of new manufacturing and prototyping technologies, including work in robotics and automation.

University of Minnesota and MnSCU Partnerships

As part of our project, we have been working closely with the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU) for many months to coordinate potential public higher education interest in robotics.

We are excited that the 2013 legislative requests of both university systems explicitly seek strategic new funding for robotics initiatives, including potential partnerships at GRIP.

As the 2013 Minnesota legislative sessions progresses, we hope you’ll support efforts to fund Minnesota’s goal of becoming a leader in robotics and automation technology.

Robotics Alley Conference

Last week hundreds of technology and political leaders and interested communities participated in the day-long Robotics Alley conference in Edina. Speakers included robotics company executives, researchers, bestselling authors, and policy and economic development leaders. The event was a great showcase of Minnesota’s emerging leadership in the industry, and a great opportunity for our robotics industry to build a supportive community.

Tekne Award Finalist

The Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) named the Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP) as a finalist in the robotics and automation category for the 2012 Tekne Awards. Tekne Award finalists were selected by an independent panel of judges and recognize Minnesota companies and individuals who have shown superior technology innovation and leadership.

We are excited that our early efforts to develop GRIP are already receiving recognition from Minnesota’s business and technology community.

We are also excited that our friends at Recon Robotics were the winners of the 2012 robotics and automation award at the November awards ceremony.

Support GRIP

We appreciate your interest in GRIP. Here are a few ways to get involved with our efforts right now:

We are always looking for ways to spread the word about GRIP. Let us know of any opportunities (local, national, or international) for us to talk about the project.
We are actively recruiting potential tenants for GRIP. If you know of a robotics or automation company (or robotics and automation R&D group within a larger company) who might like to learn more about this opportunity, please let us know.

If you would like to support our efforts in other ways, please let us know! Contact us at info@roboticsinnovation.com.

Follow GRIP

Follow us on Twitter @RoboticsPark for project updates and industry news, and “like” our Facebook page.

Nationally Renowned Architects will Incorporate Cutting-Edge Robotic Construction Methods into Project Design

The Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP) announced today that it has selected Minneapolis-based Coen + Partners and Michigan-based Monica Ponce de Leon Studio to lead the master planning and architectural design efforts for the GRIP campus.

Drawing from the success of past collaborations and complimentary skill sets, Coen + Partners has united with Monica Ponce de Leon Studio for the site selection and feasibility phase of the Global Robotics Innovation Park development.

“We are very excited to work with such an innovative and creative design team for GRIP,” said GRIP CEO Nena Street. “Shane Coen and Monica Ponce de Leon and their teams are talented architects who will make the Global Robotics Innovation Park a landmark for Minnesota technology and economic development. We are particularly excited about integrating Shane’s expertise in the creation of compelling public space with Monica’s work in the robotic fabrication of new construction materials.”

Monica Ponce de Leon notes, “Our team is thrilled to be part of the Global Robotics visioning process – we cannot imagine a project better aligned with our expertise and architectural interests. GRIP will allow us to capitalize on our current understanding of robotic technology in the fabrication of buildings.”

Shane Coen adds that, “The very idea of GRIP – a new, vibrant center for robotics innovation, research, and business with a global reach – demands iconic place-making. Our firm’s expertise in context and use-driven planning and design will help GRIP become a world-class magnet for cutting edge Robotics research and development.”

“We are actively continuing our site selection process in the Twin Cities metro area,” said Street, “It is important that we select the right location for the needs of our future tenants and the community. We anticipate having a final site identified in the next few months.”

In addition to its site selection process, GRIP also recently commissioned an economic impact study of the robotics and automation industry in Minnesota. GRIP plans to announce the preliminary findings of that study at the Robotics Alley Conference on November 15 in Edina.

About Coen + Partners

Coen + Partners is an internationally renowned landscape architecture practice based in downtown Minneapolis. Through a process of collaboration and experimentation, the studio’s work reflects an understanding of site, visual beauty, environmental advocacy, and fiscal responsibility unmatched in the landscape architecture community. Over the past twenty years, Coen + Partners has been acclaimed with over thirty design awards and recognized by AIA, ASLA, the Committee on Urban Environment and influential publications such as The New York Times, Metropolis, and Dwell.

Shane Coen and his studio have led the design of a number of notable and award-winning civic projects that push the boundary between architecture and landscape and reframe traditional ideas of public space. These include the Minneapolis Central Library and Xcel Energy Plaza, which border Minneapolis’ historic Nicollet Mall, and the U.S. Land Port of Entry project in Warroad, Minnesota, an iconic LEED-certified project that was honored with a GSA Design of Excellence Award in 2010. Coen has been selected as a Peer for the U.S. GSA Design of Excellence Program and appointed a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). He has also taught multiple design studios at Harvard University’s acclaimed Graduate School of Design.

Today, Coen + Partners is engaged in large-scale urban design work for the Hawthorne Eco-Village, a sustainable and affordable infill project in North Minneapolis, a new library and civic campus in Florida, and an innovative master plan for a mixed-use redevelopment near a university in Kansas.

About Monica Ponce de Leon Studio

Monica Ponce de Leon is the Design Director for MPdL Studio, with offices in New York, Boston and Ann Arbor Michigan, and serves as the Dean of the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Ponce de Leon has been a leader in the use of robotics technology in building fabrication. During her directorship of Harvard’s Digital Lab, her research was the first in the United States to investigate the use of robotics in fabrication for buildings. Advanced fabrication techniques have been deployed in her own projects such as the RISD Library in Providence Rhode Island, Dining Services for the Goldman Sachs Headquarters in New York, and Helios House for BP in Los Angeles. Applied technologies were first developed in her lab and are the result of the application of Ponce de Leon’s academic research into practice.

Her innovative use of technology has led to numerous awards, including the National Design Award in Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and the Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the AIA Institute Honor Award.

The Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) has named the Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP) as a finalist in the robotics and automation category for the 2012 Tekne Awards, which will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Thursday, Nov. 1. The Tekne Award finalists are selected by an independent panel of judges and recognize Minnesota companies and individuals who have shown superior technology innovation and leadership.

We are excited that our early efforts to develop GRIP are already receiving recognition from Minnesota’s business and technology community.

Presented by the MHTA, the Tekne Awards honor those who play a significant role in discovering new technologies that educate, improve lifestyles, and impact the lives and futures of people living in Minnesota and all over the world. The program reinforces Minnesota’s place as one of the most competitive and technologically advanced regions in the world. A full list of finalists is available online.

“The Tekne Awards recognize those whose leadership and dedication to technological innovation helps demonstrate Minnesota as a global player in technology-based markets,” said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, President & CEO of MHTA. “This year’s finalists should be extremely proud of their role in helping Minnesota excel.”

Recipients of the 2012 Tekne Awards will be announced at the award ceremony on Nov. 1. The event will begin with a VIP registration & reception at 4:30 p.m., followed by general registration and cocktails at 5 p.m., dinner at 5:45 p.m., the awards celebration at 7 p.m., and a post-event reception at 8:30 p.m. The event will be emceed by Don Shelby, author, news anchor and reporter.

To register for the 2012 Tekne Awards ceremony, visit www.tekneawards.org.