Across 330 acres of downtown Winston-Salem spreads the Innovation Quarter, formerly Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, an innovation district for biomedical science, information technology, digital media, clinical services, and advanced materials. Operated by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, this district is home to academic groups, private companies, and other organizations spread across 330 acres in downtown Winston-Salem. Among its tenants are departments from five academic institutions—Wake Forest School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem State University, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts—as well as private businesses and other organizations.
One notable tenant is the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM). The idea for a research park here began in the early 1990s, after R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company closed many of its former downtown warehouse and manufacturing buildings. In 1993 Wake Forest School of Medicine's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology moved into one former Reynolds warehouse, accompanied by eight researchers from Winston-Salem State University.
Stand here and feel the continuity: industrial buildings are now home to science and education, linked by institutions and enterprises across a vast urban campus. Picture the former R. J. Reynolds warehouses now filled with science and education across these 330 acres.