An experiment in interaction pays off: Centennial Campus has become a model that universities across the country are attempting to reproduce.

• Position: N.C. State University - North Carolina

Twenty years ago, researchers like forestry Assistant Professor Len van Zyl had to choose between taking their ideas into the business world and remaining in academia. Scientists like Neil Frazer had to toil alone to fine-tune inventions. Entrepreneurs like Grant Willard had to trust that someone who did well in a job interview would excel in his company.

But that was before North Carolina State University created Centennial Campus, a 1,120-acre "knowledge enterprise zone" where a mixture of academic, industry and government research benefits students, faculty and the state economy through new jobs and investment. It has become a model of innovation that other universities across the country are eagerly attempting to reproduce on their own campuses.

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"Centennial Campus has become a unique environment in the United States for industry, government and the university to jointly integrate research programs," says John Gilligan, N.C. State's vice chancellor for research and graduate studies. "The model that allows these groups to locate in the same or adjacent buildings, with specialized laboratories and expertise, fosters an exchange of ideas and creativity that is unparalleled."

Through Centennial Campus and its Partnership Office, N.C. State has created dozens of partnerships with businesses large and small, pairing university professors with corporate R & D departments to advance technologies ranging from semiconductors to genomics tools. With $340 million invested in facilities and infrastructure, 1.5 million square feet of space in 16 major buildings and eight more buildings under construction, Centennial Campus' growth is impressive.

One of the newest buildings will house research efforts into nanotechnology and molecular-scale products, and the university plans to use a $36 million foundation grant to build a pilot biotechnology/biomanufacturing plant to train workers for jobs in the rapidly growing industry. By next year, officials expect more than 3,000 people will work on the campus for companies and government agencies that do business with N.C. State-more than double the number a couple of years ago.

Eight of those jobs were created when Erimos Pharmaceuticals LLC moved from Minneapolis last year just to work with researchers in biology, veterinary medicine and other areas at N.C. State, says Dr. Neil Frazer, the company's chief medical officer. Taking its name from the Greek word for "desert," Erimos has...