Frequently Asked Questions

Prospective tenants must have a research and/or technology product development component to their business and be involved in one of the following four broad research areas that coincide with research expertise at the University:

• Information and Communications Technology
• Engineering and Advanced Materials
• Health and Biotechnology
• Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences

Tenants may decide to lease space within one of Smartpark Research and Technology Park’s multi-tenant facilities or to land lease a parcel and develop their own facility. Multi-tenant buildings offer office/lab space where the building entrance and common areas are shared by tenants. Smartpark Research and Technology Park’s current multi-tenant facilities are located at 135 Innovation Drive, 137 Innovation Drive and One Research Road.

Contact us at (204) 474-8758 to discuss the best lease package for your organization.

We conducted a survey with the CEO’s from our tenant organizations. This is what some of them had to say about the reasons they chose Smartpark Research and Technology Park:

• “For its image, location, closeness to the University, and interaction with other tenants”
• “Nice offices for our visitors to see and our employees are happy to work here”
• “The relationship with the University and our key sponsors that are here”
• “It’s a good place to have a technology-based enterprise”
• “It’s a high profile location – everyone knows where Smartpark is”

Over the last five years, Smartpark Research and Technology Park has stimulated over $100 million in capital developments. The park is home to 20 growing companies in high-tech sectors.

Smartpark Research and Technology Park’s high-tech focus will ultimately contribute to an environment and culture that encourages entrepreneurs and University graduates across many disciplines to stay in Winnipeg and in Manitoba, each in turn contributing to further investment and development.

Research parks in Canada and the U.S. represent over 41,000 acres of land, with over 2,900 tenants employing 235,000 people. (Source: Association of University Research Parks http://www.aurp.net/)

Innovation Place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan promotes itself as “the most successful research park in North America”. After 25 years, Innovation Place has 78 acres with 122 companies, 18 buildings and 2200 employees. In comparison, Smartpark Research and Technology Park spans 100 acres with 20 companies, 7 buildings and 760 employees. This shows we have made significant progress after only five years of development.

As a real estate development company, Smartpark Development Corporation is exposed to risks common to all companies in this field. These risks include:

• the risk of tenant default on lease payments,
• the risk of debt re-financing on maturity at higher rates, and
• the risk of carrying vacant space if tenants do not renew leases on expiry.

Smartpark Development Corporation attempts to mitigate these risks by:

• undertaking financial due diligence checks of tenants as a condition of leasing,
• by matching lease duration with debt maturity, and
• by maintaining an active network of prospective tenants.

One of the ways in which real estate development companies meet or ameliorate business risk is by diversifying their portfolio across tenant sectors and geographic regions. Smartpark Development Corporation is restricted to leasing only in specific research and technology sectors that may from time to time experience economic volatility and the Corporation has a natural geographic limitation and scope that does not permit diversification into other economic regions.

The economic environment has been favourable for the Corporation over the past fiscal year with generally low interest rates and economic vitality within the targeted tenant sectors.