SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center is projected to generate more than $32 billion in economic output and more than 10,000 new jobs across the Valley over the next 30 years, according to new analysis performed by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

The analysis examines the impact of 11 SkySong buildings and a restaurant/retail component on site. SkySong buildings 1-3 are complete and SkySong 4 completion is expected before the end of the year. The restaurant/retail building is expected to be completed in 2017, and SkySong 5 and 6 are expected to be completed in 2018. SkySong buildings 7-11 are expected to be completed by 2022.

Expansion by existing tenants and new leases have boosted occupancy in the first three buildings to more than 95 percent capacity. More than 1,500 employees are now on site working for the more than 50 companies housed at SkySong and the ASU SkySong incubator.

GPEC’s SkySong analysis showed the following economic projections:

  • Over a 30-year period, SkySong is expected to generate $28.9 billion in total economic output for the City of Scottsdale.
  • And, over a 30-year period, SkySong is expected to create $32.1 billion in total economic output for the Greater Phoenix area.

“SkySong is built on the deep connections and continuous collaborations between the forward-thinking City of Scottsdale, entrepreneurs, Arizona State University and the community at large,” said Sharon Harper, President AND CEO of Plaza Companies. “Its growth is a testament to innovation – in planning, in collaborating, in design and construction and in vision. When you take into account the technology, research and innovation that occurs on a daily basis at SkySong it’s hard to deny its potential for future economic success.”

Plaza Companies is the developer of the project in partnership with the Arizona State University Foundation, the City of Scottsdale and Holualoa Companies.

“This kind of significant economic impact is what the Foundation envisioned at the outset of this project. We wanted to ensure the creation of an environment that made innovation a cornerstone of the culture and that those who wanted to come to Scottsdale had all possible resources available to them to help them succeed here,” said Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, senior vice president for Knowledge Enterprise Development at Arizona State University. “Most of the companies at SkySong have enjoyed positive results and their employees, and by extension the community as a whole, have benefited.”

SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center is home to a global business community that links technology, entrepreneurship, innovation and education to position ASU and Greater Phoenix as global leaders of the knowledge economy.

SkySong is a 42-acre mixed use development designed to:

  • Create an ecology of collaboration and innovation among high-profile technology enterprises and related researchers
  • Advance global business objectives of on-site enterprises
  • Raise Arizona’s profile as a global center of innovation through co-location of ASU’s strategic global partners
  • Create a unique regional economic and social asset.

Companies located at SkySong enjoy a special relationship with Arizona State University, which has more than 90,000 students studying across four metropolitan Phoenix campuses, in Lake Havasu and online. ASU is one of the largest public universities in the nation, with the majority of its students attending its campus in Tempe, Arizona, less than three miles from SkySong.

In addition to locating its own innovative research units at the center, through ASU’s on-site operations, tenant companies have a single point of contact for introductions to researchers, faculty and programs to address their specific needs.