Sept. 17, 2008

A URC primer prepared for the Governor’s Trade Mission to Japan

In 2006, one of the world’s highest-ranked research universities, the United States’ premiere land-grant university and one of America’s largest urban research universities joined forces to form Michigan’s University Research Corridor (URC).

The goal: align the resources of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University to transform, strengthen and diversify Michigan’s economy. Doing more research each year than the 50-year-old North Carolina Research Triangle, the URC has already helped attract new corporate neighbors such as Toyota, Google, Hyundai, Aernnova Aerospace and alternative energy developer Chemrec AB to Michigan.

Aernnova, a Spanish aerospace company, is bringing its first North American engineering center here for the opportunity to collaborate with U-M (whose engineering programs are ranked among the best in the United States). The company considered 15 sites across North America, taking into account the number of engineers within a 30-minute commute, and found the talent pool in Southeastern Michigan was 10 times larger than any of the other top locations.

Chemrec, a Swedish renewable fuels leader, was attracted to Michigan in part by MSU’s international leadership in developing biofuels and its pioneering role in establishing the U.S. land-grant philosophy, which encourages strong partnerships with businesses and communities. Wayne State is home to TechTown, the world’s largest urban business park west of Singapore. Several international companies have extensive operations in U-M’s home base of Ann Arbor including Japanese companies like AISIN, Fuji Heavy Industries, Honda and medical device company Terumo.

URC combined assets include:

Students: 135,816 per year.

Jobs created: 69,285 in 2007, including 48,760 full FTE employees.

Magnet for international talent: The URC hosts about 69 percent of Michigan’s 15,500 international students, including 268 students from Japan in fall 2007. More than 33 percent of Michigan high tech startup companies were started by foreign-born founders between 1995 and 2005. Only two U.S. states had a higher percentage.

Research: More than $1.38 billion per year. From 2002-2007 the URC produced: 454 invention disclosures, 126 patents and 122 licenses/options, comparable to or better than any of the seven best U.S. research university clusters ranked in a September 2008 analysis by Anderson Economic Group.

Total economic impact: More than $13.3 billion per year.

Living alumni: More than 1 million around the world, more than half in Michigan.

Industry R&D: The auto industry invests more in Michigan R&D than the remaining 49 U.S. states combined. Businesses invest $16.7 billion in R&D in Michigan, more than 48 other U.S. states.

Major growth areas: The URC has been a national leader in building Michigan’s life sciences industry since 1999. With studies showing Michigan has the resources to create 60,000 new energy jobs, the URC invested $79.5 million in alternative energy R&D in 2007 with plans to grow rapidly in the near-term.