It’s good to be ahead of the curve on an emerging trend — which is where Fremont finds itself just as a major new research paper has been released by the Brookings Institution related to Innovation Districts. The report validates the fact that Fremont’s Innovation District in Warm Springs focuses on the essential assets needed to grow and thrive — namely, transportation, public realm, and density.

This topic is so meaty that we will be devoting two blog posts to explore the trend in greater depth. Part 1 takes a look at the prototypes and forces that are shaping the new Innovation Districts.

In the Brookings report, authors Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner define Innovation Districts as:

Geographic areas where leading-edge companies, research institutions, start-ups, and business incubators are located in dense proximity. These districts facilitate new connections and ideas, accelerate the commercialization of those ideas, and support metropolitan economies by growing jobs in ways that leverage their distinct economic position.

Katz and Wagner have identified three different prototypes for Innovation Districts:

  • “Anchor Plus” — found in Downtown/Mid-Town districts such as in Cambridge or Philadelphia with an anchor institution such as MIT or Drexel University.
  • “Re-imagined Urban Areas” — industrial or warehouse districts undergoing physical and economic transformation powered by transit access and proximity to anchor companies.
  • “Urbanized Science Park” — such as the Research Triangle in North Carolina — traditional suburban R&D campus areas where isolated areas of innovation are experiencing densification.

We consider the Fremont Innovation District to fall under the Re-imagined Urban Area prototype, although our district clusters around an old railroad line instead of a historic waterfront. What we lack in historic buildings, we make up for in factory spaces that lend themselves to the flex space needed for advanced manufacturing. Our San Francisco neighbors, Mission Bay and Hunters Point, share this designation, although the BART access in Warm Springs is a distinguishing factor for Fremont. Our anchor companies — Tesla, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Seagate, Delta Products, Lam Research, and Western Digital — are collectively providing visibility and thousands of employees to spur district activity.

Many of the forces that Katz and Wagner identify are present in Fremont. For example:

Employment Density: Fremont’s largest share of workers (more than 20,000) are concentrated in its Innovation District. The exchange of ideas and supply chain connections are greatly enhanced by this proximity.

Open Innovation: Innovation Districts have “multi-channel R&D models” involving complex partnerships where collaboration trumps competition. In Fremont, the biotechnology company NDC produces its own products, is a leader in R&D, and also incubates synergistic companies under its own roof.

Extending Private Buildings into the Public Realm: The Tesla Factory in Fremont is pushing the envelope by reinventing its manufacturing facility as an extension of a tech campus – replacing guard stations with glass windows, and embracing the public who is now coming to the Fremont showroom to buy branded products, test drive, hook up to a super-charger, and more.

The end result of the convergence of these forces is better and more accessible jobs, more sustainable development, and hopefully, better balance sheets to ensure robust city services. And Fremont is ready to put its money where its mouth is. A hallmark of the Innovation District is local investment, and Fremont is no exception. Fremont knows it must generate and invest funds to promote innovation in order to secure its economic future.

On Wednesday, we will take a closer look at the fundamental assets driving innovation growth.