On May 2, 2016, John Sharp, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, unveiled plans to invest $150 million to create a new research and development campus to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree.

The site for the new campus was the former Bryan Air Base, a World War II facility that Texas A&M University acquired in 1962, and was renamed the Riverside Campus. In Sept. 2015, the 2,000-acre tract was transferred to The Texas A&M System.