Tech Corridor Study to Shape Pinal’s Economic Future

By Blake Herzog for Golden Corridor Living 
An 18-month study being launched by Pinal County and the University of Arizona will plot out the county’s future industrial development by identifying where different types of businesses should go for their benefit as well as the region’s. 
The study’s aim is to create an Arizona Innovation Technology Corridor that, for now, begins on Interstate 10 at the southern Maricopa County line, includes all of Pinal County’s frontage on Interstates 8 and 10, and continues on I-10 through Tucson before ending at the UA Science and Technology Park. 
County Economic Development Director Tim Kanavel said he will be working with Dr. Greg Watson, an entrepreneur and investor who is a lecturer at the UA’s Maguire Center for Entrepreneurship, to analyze infrastructure and other factors companies look at when considering locating in an area. 
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors approved a $225K intergovernmental agreement with the university June 17th to pay for the study. 
Kanavel said he expects the corridor to bring “high-tech manufacturing, medical, all sorts of different kinds of projects. Plus, we’ve already got companies getting placed,” with one announcement expected soon. 
Though the study itself is expected to run just a year and a half, Kanavel said it will require a lot of public input and decades of development for its findings to be fully brought to life. 
“We have to communicate total transparency because this is a massive, massive multibillion-dollar project. It’ll take 30 years to put into play,” he said. 
Read more at Golden Corridor Living.