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Our 30th anniversary year proved to be a very successful one. The overall economic impact of the activities of the companies located in the Research Park and Technology Business Incubator (TBI) reached $849M, exceeding 2014’s impact by $94M. Other important factors to consider when analyzing our overall impact on innovation in our region: • Aggregate annual revenues - $3.2 billion • Private investment - $53.5 million • Full-time equivalent jobs - 1,737 • Total direct and indirect jobs - 4,276 • Average salary - $70,506 • Combined annual payroll - $82.5 million In 2015 companies in the Research Park and TBI: • Held 615 patents (an increase of 8% over 2014) • Were awarded 27 new patents throughout the year • Filed 33 new patent applications • Employed 112 FAU student interns • Employed 145 FAU alumni FAU recently published “A strategic plan for the race to excellence 2015-2025” and in it four institutional pillars were identified; I am pleased to report that 63% of the companies in the Research Park are engaged in activities directly related to one or more of the FAU pillars. Further, 89.5% of our companies are engaged in what the Brookings Institution defines as advanced industries. These are industries that, as of 2013, accounted for approximately 9% of U.S. employment and yet contributed 17% of all the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Together we are nurturing the companies that are making the biggest impact on Florida’s economy and are driving innovation for the future. Collaborations between the companies in the Research Park TBI and FAU’s faculty continue, and in 2015 two new notable additions were made: • University MRI announced a five year research partnership with FAU’s Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences. The Human Brain Imaging Facility (HBIF) will enable cutting-edge basic brain research studies to take place with special purpose toolkits for visual displays, movement, and sound recording that are not available on MRI machines in hospitals or radiology clinics. Multiple disciplines including psychology, physiology, neurobiology, physics, statistics, linguistics, communication disorders, education, nursing, medicine, computer science and engineering will have access to the facility. • Aventusoft in the TBI invested in and joined the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Knowledge Enablement (CAKE) which resulted in the hiring of 2 interns, with plans to increase to 5 in 2016. Throughout 2016 we will continue to look for opportunities to deepen and widen the areas of collaboration between the companies in the Research Park, TBI and FAU in order to promote scientific research and development in collaboration with FAU and to broaden the economic base of Palm Beach and Broward counties.