“We have an incredible untapped resource of the research and
technology coming from our universities and how that can be translated into
small businesses and job creation," Dozier said in quote published by
WFSU.
Innovation Park, home to the FAMU-FSU College of
Engineering, was established 30 years ago to create more local jobs by
attracting public and private researchers to Tallahassee. But the fallout from
a recent embezzlement scandal involving the park’s former executive director has
left the authority operating at a financial loss.
Currently, Innovation Park's tenants rent building space
from Leon County and pay maintenance fees. Dozier says the county could save
money by simply transferring ownership of the park's buildings to entities such
as FAMU.
Dozier, who is also a Leon County Commissioner, told the
Democrat that she wants to make sure that any potential division process for
the park’s assets treats FAMU and FSU fairly.
FAMU Interim President Larry Robinson and FSU President Eric
Barron have been invited to discuss this issue with the authority at a meeting
scheduled for next month.
The opportunity to own buildings in Innovation Park would be
a tremendous benefit to FAMU during a time when the Florida Legislature is
providing little support to public universities that need to construct new
facilities. The Public Education Capital Outlay fund, which formerly financed
most of the new construction projects in the State University System of
Florida, is in dire financial straits.
FAMU could use the new Innovation Park properties to develop
more laboratories for critical research-producing schools such as the College
of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It could also use the buildings for
classroom space and faculty offices.