University Research Corridor

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, told The National Summit that innovation and education are two critical factors that will determine how well the United States economy will perform in the decades to come.

“Our university faculty are phenomenal and probably our greatest untapped resource is our post docs and graduate students who are out there ready to help your business.” — Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer of the United States

“We have another function, a mission to aid in economic development and growth. There needs to be a rewards system in place for entrepreneurs within the university.” — University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman

“A competitive and prosperous America includes a more competitive educational system. It includes a technology and R&D sector that is second-to-none.” — Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical Co.

“We need to retool our workforce when we have a downturn, that means more higher education, in fact we have run in an opposite direction,” — Wayne State University President Jay Noren

“The kind of work going on at our universities is incredible. It’s not a question of technology: we have it. It’s a matter of commercializing,” — Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.

“Our students want to be difference-makers for society,” — Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon

URC PRESIDENTS, CEOs SHAPE NATIONAL SUMMIT AGENDA

DETROIT—Michigan’s University Research Corridor presidents and more than 60 nationally recognized CEOs and public officials gathered at the National Summit to come up with a national “to do” list for transforming the U.S. economy.

Some of their top priorities: a renewed push for innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration as well as a greater commitment to research and education.

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, Wayne State University President Jay Noren and Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon helped lead a national conversation attracting CEOs of some of the nation’s largest companies, high-ranking federal officials and more than 1,200 participants as they assembled a plan for advancing the country’s agenda.

The URC was one of the sponsors of the Summit, convened by the Detroit Economic Club. Other speakers included 11 speakers who were alumni of URC institutions.

For example, the closing energy session featured two U-M graduates, GM CEO Fritz Henderson and David Sandalow, Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs.

Other U-M alumni speakers/CEOs included Masco Corp. CEO Tim Wadhams, Arvin Merior CEO Chip McClure, BorgWarner CEO Tim Manganello, Dura Automotive CEO Tim Leuliette, and Richard Schaum of 3rd Horizon Associates.

Another four of the CEOs speaking were MSU graduates: former Gov. John Engler, Simon, PriceWaterhouseCoopers U.S. Energy Leader Rich Patterson and DeLoitte Advisor Ronald Goldsberry. Many others, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm and McClure, either praised the URC or its goals.

“First, we really do have to deepen our commitment to innovation by investing more in research and taking a longer term view of the role that innovation plays in creating business success,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the Summit attendees June 17.

“Too many American companies I think have overemphasized — sounds like a funny thing to say — but overemphasized short-term profits over the kinds of long-term investments in R&D which are necessary. And too many American companies failed to focus in on the type of business model innovation that really turns technology into successful, sustainable and profitable products. The second thing we have to do, absolutely must do, is provide a first-class education to everyone in this country. At a time when knowledge is a source of innovation and progress, as Aneesh (Chopra, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, who also spoke) had a chance to say, we’re falling behind other nations, particularly in math and in science.”

Chopra, the federal government’s first CTO, praised university startups that have grown into major companies like MIT spinoff A123 Systems, which is working with the URC and its partners to make a massive investment in advanced battery production.

“Our university faculty are phenomenal and probably our greatest untapped resource is our post docs and graduate students who are out there ready to help your business.”

Leuliette added Michigan was one of the few places with both the university and business expertise to tackle the nation’s energy issues.

“Imagine with energy policy how we could harness the education and business community of this state. We’ve got the building blocks, but what’s the mix?

Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Co. and co-chairman of the National Summit, concluded, ”A competitive and prosperous America includes a more competitive educational system. It includes a technology and R&D sector that is second-to-none.”

“Education for a creative and entrepreneurial workforce is the essential element that drives the American economy,” Noren told the Summit attendees, calling for extending the school day and school year, and restructuring the public education system from a kindergarten through 12th grade system into a pre-kindergarten through the first two years of college.

He also called for the creation of a national higher education trust fund to insulate universities from economic downturns.

“We did this in Social Security in the 1930s and Medicare in the 1960s. It was the right thing then, and it would the right thing for higher education now.”

Many speakers noted that more than half the companies in the Fortune 500 were founded during the Great Depression or other economic downturns, stressing that tough times make innovation essential.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit called innovation America’s secret weapon, adding each period of American economic stagnation has led to innovation followed by economic growth.

“The kind of work going on at our universities is incredible,” Pandit said. “It’s not a question of technology: we have it. It’s a matter of commercializing. There are going to be many Googles in the clean energy sector alone... It’s all about talent. Our universities are full of some of the smartest people. It’s a good thing to be able to attract the best talent in the world.”

McClure said the URC universities rival North Carolina’s Research Triangle and said he hoped the state’s community colleges could build their own network.

Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson told the Summit the National Institutes of Health invested about $4 per per person per year for research that cut cardiac disease by 63 percent but U.S. investment in research had fallen from about 2 percent of GDP to about eight-tenths of a percent.

He said the United States “missed an industry” by failing to commercialize the university research that developed the technology in flat panel TVs and said the country can’t repeat that mistake with the clean energy technology being developed at universities now.

Selected Summit coverage:

National Summit Innovation Expo

Photos courtesy of the National Summit and Wayne State University. Photos by Rick Bielaczyc, M.J. Murawka and Jeff Kowalsky

URC PRESIDENTS, CEOs SHAPE NATIONAL SUMMIT AGENDA

Speeches

Selected Summit coverage:

National Summit Innovation Expo