Traverse City Freshwater Research & Innovation Center
Curious what the Blue Economy means for Traverse City? Check out the video below!
The Vision
Various entities located within the Grand Traverse Region are collaborating to build a Fresh Water Research Center on the existing Discovery Center & Pier property on West Grand Traverse Bay. This research center will become the hub for the research, development and commercialization of freshwater and marine technologies and their applications affecting the Great Lakes and similar freshwater systems throughout the world. Unique to this vision are initiatives such as incubation and accelerator space, along with requisite labs to support early start-up businesses. Significant economic development is expected to result from this collaborative.
Areas of Focus
1) Autonomous and Remote Technology – Machine learning & AI, Marine shipping/freight & logistics research and development, Acoustic communication and simulations
2) Freshwater and marine technologies – Water quality and analysis, Watershed and fisheries management
3) Great Lakes modeling – Observation platforms, data collection & processing
4) Emerging Technologies & Innovation – Future Technologies, Innovation Hub/Start-up Space, and Smart Great Lakes initiatives
Rendering provided by Cornerstone Architects
The Freshwater Research & Innovation Center
The first building of the research center will be approximately 35,000 square foot of highly collaborative, shared space with magnificent views of West Grand Traverse Bay – including:
1) High Tech Lab Space & Equipment – focused on fresh water and marine technologies, with flexibility to expand as required.
The new building will house multiple laboratories, from wet labs to computer research & simulation labs. These labs will be constructed for ultimate flexibility so that, in the future, they can support multiple focus areas
2) Classroom / Seminar Space and Auditorium.
With a focus on learning and education, the building will include classroom and “seminar” space – in support of large-scale speaking and community engagement / learning events
3) Research Center Office & Administration Space.
4) Start-up Business Office Incubation and Accelerator Space.
5) Working Pier Space for Watercraft and sub-buildings to support.
A barrier-free public park and a hub from where educational partners deliver instruction & programming and select mission aligned business partners operate.
6) Maker / Tinker Space for Small Business Development and Ongoing Research Support.
Benefits to the Grand Traverse Region
With a focus on community, education and innovation around the great lakes ecosystems, this research center will become a focus for learning, R&D, economic development for the Grand Traverse Area for many years to come. Further, it will establish the Grand Traverse Region as a global hub for Great Lakes freshwater learning and research – also establishing Michigan’s role as a leader in this space – “keeping it PURE”. By co-locating research, education and commercialization partners, this new facility will generate tremendous opportunity for small business development.
Key Partners
Northwestern Michigan College
NMC envisions the Research Center as the home for Great Lakes innovation and research focused on the application of freshwater and marine technologies. The Research Center will house the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute (GLWSI) providing a state-of-the art facility supporting learning and applied research in freshwater, water environmental technology and marine technology. GLWSI will serve as the hub for project-based learning supporting academic programming and experiential learning at the associate and baccalaureate levels. Professional development and workforce training focused on remote sensing, autonomous vehicles and other water related technologies will be spearheaded by NMC
Michigan Technological University
MTU and NMC have a long history of working together on engineering education. A new partnership was recently signed to enhance our cooperation to include Great Lakes education and research. Both have waterfront locations, one on Lake Superior, the Michigan Tech Great Lakes Research Center, and the other on Lake Michigan, the NMC Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. This new Center will add multiplicative education and research in areas of water quality, lake bed mapping, autonomous watercraft control, cyber security, as well as the computational and computing research necessary in handling “big data.”
20Fathoms
As part of this new facility, 20Fathoms will establish a new Center for Innovation, to include expanded incubation / accelerator / “collision” space, along with new wet lab space and maker / tinker / light manufacturing space. These new capabilities will enable small business growth in multiple technology areas and become the hub for freshwater small business incubation resulting from the research performed “across the hall”.
Discovery Center & Pier
The Discovery Center & Pier (DCP) will serve as the conduit between the community and the partners. DCP will develop public facing programs to highlight research underway, new technologies being developed at the Center, and academic programs in science, technology and engineering related to fresh water available at NMC and MTU. DCP’s goal will be to educate the public and inspire tomorrow’s workforce.
