Staff Reports | Community Updates
For two decades, SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, has served as a workplace for companies, entrepreneurs and innovators. It has also become a gathering place where thousands of people meet, collaborate, learn and connect each year.
SkySong hosts approximately 4,500 meetings and events annually, attracting an estimated 63,000 visitors to the campus for conferences, business meetings, educational programs, community gatherings and other events.
The activity represents another dimension of SkySong’s impact on south Scottsdale and the McDowell Road Corridor. In addition to the thousands of employees who work at the 42-acre mixed-use development, the steady flow of meeting and event attendees brings visitors from across the Valley and beyond throughout the year, according to a press release.
“SkySong has always been envisioned as a gathering place for innovation, and that means much more than providing office space,” Sharon Harper, chairman and CEO of Plaza Companies and master developer of SkySong, said. “Every day, people come here to exchange ideas, build relationships and find opportunities to work together. That energy is a big part of what makes SkySong special, and it also creates another important connection between the project and the surrounding community.”
SkySong’s meeting facilities accommodate a range of uses, from executive meetings to conferences and large-scale gatherings. The campus currently offers 15 meeting and event spaces across two buildings, ranging from boardrooms to a multipurpose event venue of more than 4,600 square feet that can accommodate hundreds of attendees.
The campus also features outdoor gathering spaces beneath its signature shade structure and throughout the development, expanding opportunities for community, business and educational programming.
The variety of organizations using the facilities reflects SkySong’s role as a connection point among business, education and the broader community. The development serves as a meeting location for companies based at SkySong, Arizona State University units, government agencies and community organizations.
SkySong is also one of Arizona State University’s nine Innovation Zones across the Valley. These collaborative destinations are designed to support a distributed, regionally integrated approach to university-driven economic development. The success of ASU’s SkySong Innovation Zone is measured by research commercialization, talent retention, venture capital growth and cross-sector collaboration.
“SkySong was created to help create greater access to the innovation that ASU is now so well known for and to advance economic development across the Valley,” ASU President Michael Crow said. “It attracts thousands of meetings every year and provides an environment of discovery that produces new ideas, new partnerships and new companies. A conversation that begins in a conference room can turn into a business relationship, a new idea or an opportunity that has an impact far beyond SkySong.”
The meetings and events also contribute to SkySong’s role as an economic activity center for south Scottsdale. Visitors to the campus can generate business for nearby restaurants, hotels, retailers and other establishments, extending the project’s economic impact beyond its boundaries.
That role has grown alongside significant redevelopment in the McDowell Road Corridor during the past 20 years. SkySong has helped establish the area as a destination for employers and innovation-focused businesses, while residential, retail, restaurant and hospitality development has added activity throughout the corridor.
SkySong has also evolved into a destination where visitors can work, meet, stay and dine within the same development. The campus includes Class A office space, residential development, restaurants and retail amenities, the Element Scottsdale at SkySong hotel, meeting and event facilities, and outdoor gathering spaces.
The result is a project that functions not only as a workplace but also as a center of activity in south Scottsdale.
“When SkySong was first envisioned, one of the goals was to create a place that connected ASU, the business community and the broader region,” Ms. Harper said. “Twenty years later, the number of people coming through SkySong every year shows just how deeply that idea has taken root.”
Plaza Companies is the master developer of SkySong in partnership with ASU University Realty, the City of Scottsdale and Holualoa Companies. SkySong is one of nine Arizona State University Innovation Zones across the Valley.
