Good morning all,
News that Chemours will build a research and development center on the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus in Newark brought a ho-hum reaction in some quarters.
After all, it was common knowledge in some circles that the Chemours deal was in the works. Also, the $150 million project would move 300 jobs down I-95, with no guarantees of additional employment.
Still, the significance of the project goes well beyond the headcount.
Chemours will have more of an opportunity to work with the world-class researchers at UD. In fact, the opportunity for partnering with the university was cited as one of the reasons for the move to Newark.
The announcement also comes after a successful effort to land a private-public partnership that will lead to the headquarters for a national research and development center for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
UD went far beyond the minimum requirements for the center and will construct a larger structure with room for researchers and start-ups that could provide a further boost to the STAR campus and the state economy.
The twin announcements also tell us why the STAR Campus was not put in the mix for Delaware’s long-shot effort for Amazon’s HQ2 project.
In some ways, the STAR Campus checked off many of Amazon’s boxes. A college town in a metro area fits Amazon’s vision. The train station is another drawing card.
Still, STAR seems to have a winning formula in place and dropping everything to pursue Amazon would not have made sense.
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