Nebraska Innovation Campus

The Nebraska Innovation Campus is a public/private research campus being developed by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It is located in Lincoln, Nebraska on the 249 acre site of the old Nebraska State Fair grounds.

Its purpose is "To encourage and incent the greatest amount of private/public research and economic development on this property thus allowing this site to become a preferred location for significant job creation in Lincoln and the State of Nebraska."

The project is managed by the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation and is overseen by a nine-member board of directors appointed by the University Regents. From 2018-2023, Robert G. Wilhelm led the Nebraska Innovation Campus as the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at UNL. The first projects will be related to agriculture and natural resources.

The project was made possible by a 2008 state law which moved the Nebraska State Fair to Grand Island and turned the old state fairgrounds over to the university. Several citizens filed a legal challenge to the law, contending that it "created a special benefit" for some of the groups and people involved in the plan. However, in May 2010 the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected those arguments and upheld an earlier dismissal of the lawsuit. There was also an attempt to overturn the state law by referendum, but the petition drive failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

All of the State Fair buildings were to be demolished except the Arsenal and 4-H buildings, which were be remodeled and transformed into a focal point for the research campus. A group of activists attempted to save the 97-year-old Industrial Arts Building from demolition, and the Regents gave them until July 2010 to find a way to renovate and keep the building. One Wisconsin company submitted a bid to restore and renovate the building, but the university rejected it in August 2010 as too expensive. Later, the university approved a plan to repurpose the Industrial Arts Building, which included the addition of greenhouse space on the second floor. The Ice Box, an ice hockey arena on the former fairgrounds, was also spared from demolition; it is currently leased to the Lincoln Stars for use until 2031, after which time the city of Lincoln has recommended it also be razed and redeveloped.