UNIVERSITY CITY SCIENCE CENTER

Going digital helps a fast-growing incubator keep pace.

The University City Science Center is the first and largest urban research park in the US. With two million square feet (and growing) of office, lab and meeting space, they think a lot about real estate. However, a successful research park is not really about real estate. It’s about creating an ecosystem where forward-thinking people can share ideas and learn from each other’s successes.

To develop our creative strategy, we asked ourselves, “If the Science Center is an ecosystem, then what are its life forms?” In a groundbreaking move, we turned the focus of their annual report on people. People, not buildings, became our heroes. That perspective quickly led us to creating richly layered stories highlighting entrepreneurs and how they work and thrive in their incubator surroundings. And we took another departure as well. We coaxed the client to take a bold leap and change the format of the report from print to interactive. At first our client was a bit anxious, but they quickly embraced the benefits of going digital. After all, the folks at the Science Center are innovators themselves! Once we created the microsite, the Science Center left paper behind forever and there is no looking back.