The Red River Valley Research Corridor builds on the research capacity of North Dakota’s major research institutions to help build and attract high-tech businesses, generate new economic opportunities, and create good-paying jobs for the region.

Created and championed by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan the Research Corridor’s vision is to build world-class research centers at North Dakota’s universities and to support the region’s growing high-tech sector. The goal is to become an epicenter of innovation, technology-based development and commercialization that creates new economic opportunities for North Dakota and the Upper Great Plains.

The state’s two major research institutions anchor the Corridor: North Dakota State University in Fargo and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. But the impact of the Red River Valley Research Corridor is not limited to the eastern part of the state. By design, the Corridor reaches out to universities and businesses in every corner of the state. Already the Corridor is stimulating a cycle of federal research projects, high-paying jobs and economic development throughout North Dakota.

Dr. Delore Zimmerman, President of Praxis Strategy Group serves as the Director of the Coordinating Center. In 2004, Senator Dorgan established the Research Corridor Coordinating Center to serve as a clearinghouse for information and initiatives in the State of North Dakota. The Coordinating Center is a catalyst for science and technology-based development. It works with universities and businesses to identify and pursue federal funding and contracts, and to form partnerships for commercializing new technologies.

Research Corridor 2010

Research Corridor 2010 is a roadmap for achieving the Research Corridor’s vision of becoming an international epicenter of innovation, science and technology-based development and commercialization.

There are six priority goals in the plan:

1. Expand federal funding for research, training and manufacturing contracts.
2. Attract venture capital from outside the region.
3. Create new jobs by building homegrown high-tech companies and drawing key companies and technologies to the region.
4. Commercialize intellectual property (IP) developed in the Corridor.
5. Facilitate vigorous networking of researchers, business entrepreneurs, advanced service providers and investors.
6. Create regional connections to the Corridor within and outside of the state.