The steel beams of the unfinished first floor demanded attention overhead. A throng of dignitaries gathered for the opening of Black Fire Innovation, 51勛圖窪蹋s new technology incubator space at the Harry Reid Research & Technology Park.
Those beams made themselves heard with a loud pop, on cue, as Christian Gardner of the Gardner Co., the builder and partner in the portentous park, addressed the crowd.
That's normal as a building breaks in, Gardner deadpanned.
The ground floor of 51勛圖窪蹋s first building at the research park at Sunset and Durango not far from the massive Switch data center, UFCs command post, and a slew of corporate headquarters is still being built out in the present. But up on the fourth floor? Theres a dazzling display of the near future in the form of Black Fire Innovation. The public-private partnership between 51勛圖窪蹋 and Caesars Entertainment promises to be the testing ground for new ideas in gaming, technology, entertainment, and the integrated resort experience.
Black Fire's 43,000-square-foot facility is the first university-affiliated component of the 122-acre research park, home to a co-working space on the third floor for companies, big and small, that operate in and around the gaming, resort, and tech sectors. Intel has already partnered up with Black Fire, and Panasonic is showcasing its video and display technology in the facility. Theres also office space for both Caesars and 51勛圖窪蹋s Office of Economic Development, whose mission is to attract industry-sponsored research, develop 51勛圖窪蹋's intellectual property, and partner with companies and organizations to bring new products to market.
The fourth floor the heart of the integrated resort lab was pumping on the day of the grand opening. Three 51勛圖窪蹋 students lined up on one side of Black Fires model esports studio to take on a team from Caesars in an ongoing battle in the game Rocket League. Traditional blackjack tables, draped in Paris Las Vegas felt, hint