Detroit and Southeast Michigan - the 21st Century Global Center for Mobility: The Impact of the Ann Arbor Area of Innovation on the New Industries of Connected, Autonomous and Automated Vehicles and the Metropolitan, National and Global Economy

A key attribute of the emerging phenomena of areas of innovation (This paper presents the case study of the Ann Arbor SPARK area of innovation that is driving a collective regional and state effort to become a global center of research, development and commercialization of connected and autonomous transportation technologies. AOIs) as a habitat for knowledge creation, innovation and commercialization of new products and services is that AOIs can act as a platform to spur collective thinking among its quadruple helix constituents. This paper will focus on lessons learned and replicable professional practices that STP and AI leadership can employ demonstrating the power of the AOI in creating new collaborative platforms where one did not exist before impacting the larger regional economy by making it a living laboratory for the validation and commercialization of new technologies that can be deployed globally for the benefit of the entire world.