It was easy to make the case during our recent visit with reporters in New York that Michigans University Research Corridor (URC) holds a significant place among eight university innovation clusters helping boost the national economy and improve lives through research.
The URC composed of Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University ranks second in an Innovation Power Ranking that examines R&D spending, research commercialization and talent production. The ranking is included in the seventh annual URC Economic Impact Report released in January that compared Michigans URC to seven peer clusters in six states, including North Carolinas Research Triangle Park, Californias Innovation Hubs and Massachusetts Route 128 Corridor.
In striving to educate students, attract talented workers to Michigan, support innovation and encourage the transfer of technology to the private sector, our institutions are making a difference in Michigan and especially in Detroit, where the URC universities are deeply involved in assisting the citys resurgence. The presidents conveyed this message to the New York media outlets.
The URCs economic impact is felt far beyond just the communities where we have our campuses. With nearly 600,000 URC alumni living in Michigan, the state benefits from their higher income related to their university degrees. It also benefits from student spending, since nearly a quarter of all higher education students in Michigan last year attended one of the three URC universities.
The new report, prepared by East Lansing, Mich.-based Anderson Economic Group (AEG), shows the URC universities conferred nearly 33,000 graduate and undergraduate degrees in 2012, more than any other university innovation clusters the URC has benchmarked itself against since 2007. The URC also granted the most medical degrees and ranked second in high-demand degrees overall.
But the three universities do more than just ready tens of thousands of students for todays jobs. They also accounted for 93% of academic research in the state in fiscal year 2012, with research and development spending rising to nearly $2.1 billion, a 48% increase over the past five years. The URC universities have continued to commercialize their research through patents and start-up companies, cultivating 163 start-up companies since 2002.
The report also shows:
The URC contributed $16.6 billion in state economic activity in fiscal year 2012. Activity attributable to the URC boosted state tax revenue by $449 million that year, an increase of $98 million over FY 2006.
The URC was responsible in 2012 for more than 66,000 direct and indirect jobs statewide, with the impact being felt in regions ranging from the Upper Peninsula to Michigans southern border with Indiana and Ohio.
We continue to find more ways that we can commercialize the work being done on our campuses, either through patents or by creating new startup companies. Were also giving our faculty, students and alumni a growing array of tools to become entrepreneurs.
We know the URC stacks up well against peer university innovation clusters nationwide, leading in some measures and competing aggressively to catch and exceed those in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. We believe thats being recognized in the administrations proposal to increase higher education spending by 6.1% in the coming budget year.
Were working to make Michigan a national leader in innovation and developing talent, giving the state and taxpayers a strong return on their investment in Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
Lou Anna K. Simon is president of Michigan State University; Mary Sue Coleman is president of the University of Michigan; and M. Roy Wilson is president of Wayne State University.
