The facility has helped create many businesses based on the work of university scientists over the years.

Research Park now houses more than forty companies alongside sixty-nine academic departments and employs more than 7,500 people.

[5] In 1968, the Utah state legislature allocated 320 acres along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to develop a research park.

[6] Research Park was intended to stimulate economic development within the State of Utah and encourage students who graduate from the University of Utah to stay in Salt Lake City by providing research jobs.

[7] In 1982, when the successful implantation of the Jarvik 7 artificial heart attracted international headlines, artificial organ and medical device research and development at the University of Utah led Science Digest and the New York Times to nickname Salt Lake City the "Bionic Valley": "the epicenter of a bioengineering effort that promises to shake up the entire health-care system.