Imagine 10 years from now: A Boeing engineer strides across the courtyard of a 600,000ft2 complex off Clyde Morris Boulevard, chatting with a colleague from Raytheon about the latest drone aircraft research.
Meanwhile, executives from a major airline fly into Daytona Beach International Airport to check on the latest research being performed in the test facility next door.
It may sound far-fetched, but Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is working to develop an aviation-based research and development park near its Daytona Beach campus that could include test labs for some of the world's leading aviation and aerospace companies.
The university is already involved in a joint project with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a new satellite-based air traffic control system at the Florida NextGen Test Bed, which regularly brings officials from companies such as The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin to Daytona Beach to monitor its progress.
Complementing the test bed at Daytona Beach International Airport, ERAU's 90-acre Research and Technology Park along Clyde Morris Boulevard could bring 2,000 jobs from national companies with average salaries of $50,000 when it's fully built out in 10 years, ERAU's President and CEO John Johnson said.
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