City, Piedmont Triad Research Park Awarded
$100,000 Economic Development Performance Grant

Office of the Mayor - Aug. 23, 2007
Contact: Derwick Paige, 727-2742

The U.S. Economic Development Administration has awarded the city and the Piedmont Triad Research Park a $100,000 performance award for the "outstanding implementation and outcomes" of the $1 million grant the EDA awarded in 2005 for infrastructure improvements to the park.

The performance award must be used to further develop the park.

This is the first year the EDA has distributed performance awards to grant recipients whose projects "demonstrated outstanding performance," based on such factors as the amount of private investment and number of jobs attracted by the project, timely project completion, and organizational leadership. Nationwide, the EDA awarded just seven performance awards.

In a letter announcing the award, EDA regional administrator H. Philip Paradice Jr. said, "Both the city of Winston-Salem and the staff of Wake Forest University and its Piedmont Triad Research Park subsidiary have demonstrated excellent management of the infrastructure work, meeting the construction schedule and being responsive to EDA’s requests for information."

Mayor Allen Joines said that the city and the research park will put the performance award to good use. "We are honored that the Economic Development Administration recognizes the superb development and management of the park and honored us with a performance award. This money will help us further develop the park and achieve our vision of making it one of the prime engines in the economy of Winston-Salem and the surrounding region."

Douglas L. Edgeton, the president of the Piedmont Triad Research Park, said, "This award is particularly gratifying because it recognizes exactly the kind of accomplishment that we hope the research park can continue to bring to the city. The EDA's financial support helped us build the infrastructure to support a new facility, where the research activities will in turn generate new ideas and business ventures that can grow in Winston-Salem."