Local leaders were on hand Wednesday as UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Aggie Square’s new launch headquarters on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento. Aggie Square is an innovation hub planned for the university’s Sacramento campus.

The University of California, Davis, has issued a request for proposals, or RFP, to a group of real estate developers interested in financing, designing, building, owning and managing the first phase of Aggie Square, a new innovation hub for the university’s Sacramento campus.

The University of California, Davis, is investing $4 million over three years to launch four new research centers that align campus strengths with unique opportunities for global impact. The UC Davis Office of Research initiative is designed to promote new, sustainable, inter- and multidisciplinary research activity that responds to society’s greatest challenges and needs.

Washington Monthly’s annual college rankings, published online and in the magazine’s September-October issue, also place UC Davis 11th among all public and private universities in the nation, third among all public universities, and third among all public and private universities in California.

While construction of Aggie Square Phase 1 won’t begin until 2021, UC Davis is not waiting to demonstrate the power of colocating university, industry and community. Launch@AggieSquare opening this fall will feature a flexible demonstration area for faculty, IBM, and others to showcase their latest innovations and collaborative projects. As well, this space can accommodate meetings for local community groups — a feature that many neighborhood leaders have requested.