Rendering of Rose-Hulman’s future Innovation Grove to be built on Terre Haute’s east side. Submitted by Rose-Hulman
Groundbreaking for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s much anticipated Innovation Grove District took place Terre Haute’s east side Thursday.
Located on Indiana 42 near Terre Haute Regional Airport, it will serve as a hub for entrepreneurship, expand educational opportunities for Rose-Hulman students, enhance local health care services and bring the potential for economic growth to the Wabash Valley, officials say.
It will include new facilities for Rose-Hulman Ventures and a new Union Health/Indiana Joint Replacement Institute surgery center and medical office. Opening is anticipated in 2026.
“This will truly be a hub of innovation,” said Rob Coons, Rose-Hulman president. It promises to be transformational not only for students, but for the Wabash Valley as a whole, he said.
Innovation Grove will offer Rose-Hulman students opportunities for hands-on internships, collaborations on real-world engineering projects through Rose-Hulman Ventures, and the chance to engage with cutting-edge health care technology at the Surgical Center for Hip and Knee Replacements.
Total investment is estimated at more than $100 million, including funding from the Lilly Endowment and private philanthropic sources as well as with federal, state, and community support.
“It’s just a phenomenal day,” Coons said. “This is the culmination of a lot of efforts for a number of years.”
Michael Meneghini, a 1995 Rose Hulman graduate who grew up in Terre Haute, is the founder and chief executive officer of the Indiana Joint Replacement Institute.
For Meneghini, it’s the culmination of “a lifelong dream of bridging engineering and medicine,” in partnership with Union Health and Rose Hulman, he said after the groundbreaking.
He added, “It’s great to have it right here in my hometown in Terre Haute.”
The new facility will help engineering students have real life experience observing hip and knee replacement, “and the exchange of education, information and innovation in that process is really exciting,” he said. He approached Rose-Hulman and Union Health with the concept, and both were on board. “It was a match made in heaven,” Meneghini said.
The impact includes an increase in real world education for Rose-Hulman engineering students and job creation for the local economy.
Also, there is the potential for international and national companies to place additional facilities and resources at Innovation Grove. “That’s exciting for the entire state of Indiana,” Meneghini said.
He noted that much engineering is involved with hip and knee replacement, in terms of well functioning implants.
Bringing the engineering and medical components to the same facility and campus “will accelerate the learning and accelerate innovation to a level that would be faster than you could do separated physically,” Meneghini said.
During the program, he spoke of the potential for a major orthopedic company to locate part of its operation — an engineering component that deals with custom 3D printing — to Innovation Grove. Discussions are underway, he said.
Steve Holman, CEO of Union Health, described the hip and knee replacement done by IJRI as “world class.”
The location of the IJRI at Innovation Grove “continues to bring health care close to home and health care that is second to none,” he said.
The collaboration also will help prepare future physicians and surgeons who potentially will practice in the Wabash Valley, he said.
Overall, Innovation Grove improves quality of life, as envisioned by the See You in Terre Haute 2025 Community Plan, Holman said.
Among the speakers was U.S. Sen. Todd Young.
“This is a momentous occasion for the community, for the Wabash Valley, really for the entire state of Indiana,” Young said in comments after the groundbreaking.
“This center here could be a world class research, development and commercialization center for biomedical research,” from hip replacements to other medical devices, he said. “Indiana has long led the way in developing these tools.”
“Now, right here, we’ll have a world class center to develop from the beginning to the end these sorts of products,” Young said. “One could imagine large businesses locating here in the future … because of this world class research.”
He also believes that investment in higher education is key to economic and national security. “America must lead in emerging tech,” he said.
The Innovation Grove District will feature:
• Rose-Hulman Ventures: A 35,000-square-foot building that will be the new home to the engineering consulting and technology design and development firm that has existed for over two decades on the Institute’s South Campus.
It also will house STEM and robotics education programs, in collaboration with the Vigo County School Corp., as well as the Sawmill Society, dedicated spaces for Rose-Hulman’s network of entrepreneurial alumni and supporters to mentor and collaborate with emerging innovators.
• Surgical Center for Hip and Knee Replacements: A 40,000-square-foot building that will house a facility in a partnership with Union Health and IJRI.
• 5 megawatt solar farm: This renewable energy source will reduce the district’s carbon footprint while promoting clean energy practices on campus.
• Innovation Trails: It is designed to encourage healthy and active lifestyles within the Rose-Hulman and local communities. This trail will connect to the broader Wabash Valley trail system, offering scenic routes for walking, running, and biking.
Funding for the $102.3 million Innovation Grove District includes philanthropic support from Lilly Endowment Inc., various private philanthropic sources along with federal, state, and community support.
Funding sources include the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, and an allocation from Vigo County Council and Terre Haute City Council’s American Rescue Plan Act resources.
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