IU Indianapolis helping fuel momentum, growth at 16 Tech
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University Indianapolis says its new Research 1 — or R1 — designation from the Carnegie Foundation will help propel the city and state forward.
An R1 designation is presented to universities with $50 million in research and development expenditures that award at least 70 doctoral degrees in any field in a year.
“We now have in Indianapolis the university that we need to really propel the city and the state forward,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “This is a gateway for partnership with industry. This is a gateway to bring in world class faculty that want to work at an R1 institution.”
The announcement comes after IU shared plans for a new building at the 16 Tech Innovation District that will be home to the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, or IU LAB.
16 Tech CEO Emily Krueger said having an R1 institution like IU Indianapolis provides credibility and reflects an investment by the university.
“It’s undisputable the role that tier one research universities play in terms of fostering basic research and also increasingly focus on translational research — the research that results in products, services and companies that are helping to drive our economy,” Krueger said. “What it often means is that private industry investment follows the university investment.”
Funding for the IU LAB project comes from a $138 million Lilly Endowment grant and is expected to open in 2027.
Former Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg is leading IU LAB as its inaugural president and CEO.
“We really want to be the front door for where academia meets industry,” Rosenberg said. “Luddy School of Informatics and their BMEI (biomedical engineering and informatics) program will be housed here, along with (the) School of Medicine … we’ll [also] have an incubator and accelerator space for startups.”
Krueger says IU’s plans will boost the demand for space at 16 Tech.
“Faculty … need spaces to locate the companies that they’re starting, and industry needs places to locate in order to partner with those faculty,” Krueger said. “Both are seeking to create opportunities for students that are going to help them both in their post-secondary education.”
Pete Yonkman, president of Cook Group and Cook Medical, told IBJ the IU LAB is key to helping Hoosier health care companies stay on the cutting edge.
“We’re sort of the prototype of what a future partner might look like,” he said.
Yonkman said he reviewed the history of Bloomington-based Cook Group, the medical device pioneer founded in 1963, in preparation for the IU LAB launch.
“Over that time, we have 57 medical firsts as an organization,” said Yonkman, citing examples including the first approved coronary stent. “In no case of that 57 did we invent that technology alone. We did it through either collaboration with an individual physician, researcher, research institute or university.”
Rosenberg told Inside INdiana Business host Gerry Dick that the IU LAB is also looking to partner with neighboring areas, such as Warsaw and Fishers.
“The goal [of IU LAB] is how do we discover that next innovation, commercialize that product and train those life science leaders of the future,” Rosenberg said. “It’s really the right time, the right place, the right corridor.”
A groundbreaking for the new building is expected to happen in about a year.
The 16 Tech Bridge is expected to open in April, connecting the innovation district to Eskenazi Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children and more. The bridge will have a pedestrian only portion which will connect to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The Vanguard Apartments are also preparing to welcome residents.
“2025 is going to be a banner year for 16 Tech,” Krueger said. “From the very beginning, our vision and our master plan has included increasing the connectivity to downtown, and especially the connectivity to IU Indianapolis and Purdue in Indianapolis.”
IBJ reporter Daniel Lee contributed to this story.