“At the University of Michigan, we are seeing an entrepreneurial culture that is stronger than ever,” — University Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman.
“(The URC) isn't just a report. It's a way we're trying to work together every day,” — Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon.
“The three University Research Corridor partners are a nationally unique complementary force in research and development as well as economic competitiveness for Michigan’s future,” — Wayne State University President Jay Noren.
“In my former position at the Michigan Economic Development Corp., I saw on a daily basis the incredible transformation taking place in our Michigan economy... More often than not, those companies locating here for the first time or expanding in Michigan were knowledge-based companies,” — URC Executive Director Jeff Mason.
“Just a couple of 23-year old kids with skills learned in our undergraduate degrees were able to build, grow and eventually sell a business to a multimillion dollar company within the span of eight months,” — recent University of Michigan engineering graduate Jason Bornhorst, telling lawmakers about three startups he's helped launch, including DoGood, an iPod app.
“(The URC) is a very good collaboration. We like each other. It's working extremely well,” — University Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman.
“We are partnering with enterprise social media company INgage... to apply the collaborative power of the Internet to more fully connect our Extension programs and citizens around the state,” — Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon.
“No other state has nationally leading universities in all three categories: Michigan State as the nationally leading land grant university; the University of Michigan as the broadest scope research university with an internationally focused academic medical center; and Wayne State as a nationally leading urban research university,” — Wayne State University President Jay Noren.
Speakers:
Wayne State University President Jay Noren
Michigan State Universiy President Lou Anna Simon
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman
Introduction/Overview (President Jay Noren):
I will begin with a comment on Michigan’s three research universities from the perspective of the newest member of the team, having arrived at Wayne State just 18 months ago. I am familiar with the playing field, however, having spent the previous 30 years of my career at research universities outside Michigan: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas A&M and Washington.
The three University Research Corridor partners are a nationally unique complementary force in research and development as well as economic competitiveness for Michigan’s future. I say that because no other state has nationally leading universities in all three categories: Michigan State as the nationally leading land grant university; the University of Michigan as the broadest scope research university with an internationally focused academic medical center; and Wayne State as a nationally leading urban research university. Most states have one of these categories, but Michigan is fortunate enough to have all three. And that’s why the University Research Corridor is so important to the state of Michigan.
Three years ago, when Michigan’s three research universities entered into a partnership called the University Research Corridor, or URC for short, we set out specifically to pool our expertise and resources to transform the state’s economy. We were and are convinced that our state’s higher education institutions, especially our three outstanding universities, are Michigan’s most important assets in developing the highly educated and inspired talent we need to be successful in an increasingly knowledge-based and global marketplace. We want to be a positive force in reinventing our state and educating a highly skilled workforce to meet this century’s economic challenges.
My colleagues, Presidents Coleman and Simon, will have more to say about this topic, but it is important to understand that our research does not take place in a vacuum. Sometimes that’s a commonly held misconception of university research, but it’s a long way from reality. At each of the URC institutions we are committed to moving the fruits of our research into the marketplace as quickly and effectively as possible.
We do a very good job of this, too: The University Research Corridor produces more than one invention disclosure every day and literally dozens of startup companies each year. At the same time we have mechanisms in place to create a dynamic entrepreneurial culture both on our campuses and in our communities. Each of our institutions puts great emphasis on innovation, through classroom and laboratory instruction as well in research itself and the resulting commercialization of new products and technologies.
For the past three years we’ve commissioned the Anderson Economic Group of East Lansing to do a quantitative analysis of our economic impact in Michigan. I would like to share some of the most recent data with you.
The report reveals that the three URC institutions account for an amazing 93 percent of all federal research dollars coming into Michigan. We are the youngest of only seven such so-called “clusters of innovation” in the country (the oldest is North Carolina’s 51-year-old Research Triangle), but we already exceed half the other six on key research and development benchmarks. Most notable among those benchmarks is the $1.4 billion in research funding that we bring in every year; this funding comes almost entirely from outside the state, which is itself an economic driver for Michigan.
The report also notes that our URC institutions have an annual economic impact on Michigan of $14.5 billion, which means that we return $16 for every one dollar the state invests in us.
A lot has been said and written about our state and nation’s need for more graduates in advanced technology. Michigan already is doing its part in this effort: Collectively, the three URC institutions award the third greatest number of high-tech degrees — a total of 7,638 — among those seven consortia, close behind similar partnerships in Pennsylvania (at 7,713 degrees) and Southern California (with 8,266).
In 2009 the economic news for Michigan seemed to go from bad to worse every day — the result of years of relying too heavily on one industry, among many other factors. But in this year’s URC annual report — for that very same year — I think we can see the Michigan of the future. Returning our state to economic prosperity, and making it a place to which people and businesses want to move, will take a lot of creative imagination, new kinds of collaboration, a new spirit of entrepreneurship and some courage and daring on the part of our friends in state government. But it can happen — and at the URC we believe it will happen, and that it will happen with our help. We want the URC to be a primary catalyst for the economic revolution that will bring Michigan back to prosperity.
I would now like to introduce you to Jeff Mason, who became executive director of the URC in July 2009 after serving as senior vice president and chief business development officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. We were impressed by the high quality of his work in technology development, technology transfer, commercialization, venture capital and business development, as well as his experience in such key URC fields as the life sciences and alternative energy.
Hiring an executive director was a major step in our maturity as an organization, and having a point man with Jeff’s experience makes us exponentially more effective. As our three universities continue to collaborate more closely than ever before, Jeff’s proven expertise and leadership will strengthen our ability to promote and secure the kind of practical economy and entrepreneurial spirit that will return Michigan to the prosperity its people deserve.
Why the URC is so important now (Jeff Mason):
Thank you President Noren. In my former position at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation I saw on a daily basis the incredible transformation taking place in our Michigan economy. For every company expanding or locating in Michigan, another company was shrinking or worse closing.
But more often than not, those companies locating here for the first time or expanding in Michigan were knowledge-based companies in sectors like Information technology or alternative energy or life science. These knowledge based companies recognized one of the key advantages of a Michigan location, the students, faculty and research available at these three world-class research institutions.
I saw firsthand the power of these institutions and that’s why I chose to join the URC and why I believe so strongly in our vision...to help create the 21st Century Michigan.
The URC was created by the three Presidents to leverage the power of Michigan’s research universities and founded on the premise that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
What have I found over the first eight months on the job is nothing short of amazing. These three universities account for 93 percent of all academic research taking place in the state of Michigan, they employ over 48,000 people, and combined they have over 133,000 students enrolled. And, while these numbers are certainly impressive what is equally impressive is the commitment these three institutions have made toward the economic transformation of Michigan’s economy. You can learn more about these efforts by reviewing our 2009 Annual Report, Empowering Michigan which we have provided to the committee. But let me touch briefly on three ways the URC institutions support economic development.
First, through the sheer size of these research institutions we are able to reposition the image of Michigan in the eyes of not only our own citizens but people around the globe. As President Noren mentioned, three years ago we began benchmarking the URC against six other research technology clusters across the country. Areas such as Boston, Mass. with Harvard, MIT, and Tufts or the Silicon Valley in Northern California with Stanford, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. Today, people are beginning to take notice and put Michigan’s URC in this same category.
Second, by educating students that become entrepreneurs or through the licensing of intellectual property or university led start-ups. Together the three universities that make up the URC produced an average of 20 new companies a year, more than one new company a month for the past 60 months.
And third, through our support of new business recruitment and development. We’re not an economic development agency but we are an economic engine. Look no further than Google or IBM or General Electric to see the power of our institutions in attracting firms that want to be close to the brainpower that exist at these three universities. We are supporting regional and statewide economic development organizations by connecting key faculty and university officials with business executives and leveraging the power of our alumni base both here and abroad.
Now let me turn it over to President Simon to talk about how Michigan State is making a positive impact on the future of Michigan.
How MSU is advancing our state (MSU President Lou Anna Simon):
Jay Noren and Jeff Mason gave us some of the numbers from the URC reports ... that together give a picture of how we are committed to helping Michigan compete effectively in the global knowledge economy.
I want to help illustrate that data by sharing some of the ways Michigan State University is bolstering Michigan’s competitiveness.
We’ve heard about research dollars attracted by the URC partners, and those are a very direct benefit to the state’s economy.
Michigan State’s own target is to grow our grant-funded research by at least 10 percent a year ... independent of our Facility for Rare Isotope Research project.
We recently announced a $25 million federal grant for development of a center to study evolution ... not by looking at fossils ... but by applying cutting-edge scholarship in both biology and computer science ... creating new technologies to solve real-world problems ... such as developing systems that detect computer intrusions, or self-correcting software code.
We’re sharing a $6.2 million grant to open a world center of excellence in Parkinson’s disease research in Grand Rapids ... bringing a team of top scientists as we continue to develop the College of Human Medicine’s growth on the west side of the state.
Our growing Grand Rapids medical partnership and our dozens of community based graduate medical education programs across the state illustrate some of the less obvious ways Michigan State contributes to Michigan’s competitiveness in the field of medicine.
Between our College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine, we train some 2,400 residents at partner hospitals all over the state, bringing those institutions approximately $200 million in government payments.
And when they complete their training, a large proportion of those new doctors stay to practice in Michigan. More than two-thirds of the osteopathic college’s 3,819 living alumni practice in Michigan.
And one out of every six residents and fellows in Michigan are associated with the MSU College of Human Medicine. That college’s patient base exceeds 2 million Michigan residents, and a significant proportion of that college’s medical students also remain in Michigan to practice.
In a similar vein, we are training the entrepreneurs and innovators Michigan needs throughout our curriculum ... and not just in our business school.
Our College of Engineering, which has a strong program of research in energy and new materials, is a particular hotbed of enterprise ... having produced the founders of such thriving Michigan-based information technology companies as TechSmith ... a top developer of screen capture software used around the world.
Today, every undergraduate who starts in our engineering program is expected to be part of a team focused on developing innovative products.
We’re bringing in partners ... Consumers Energy is a recent case in point ... to make very direct connections from the outset between students in our residential engineering program and high-growth job areas.
We’re serious about working closely with Michigan’s employers... Business-CONNECT is a one-stop shop we’ve started to connect the business support and research resources of MSU to companies and economic development agencies.
MSU Technologies, our technology transfer organization, is redoubling its efforts to find licensees for proprietary MSU technology ... including listing available patents on a searchable online database.
We recently announced licensing agreements of oil plant technology to multinational chemical company BASF ... personal identification technology to an international security company ... and we now have an agreement with a world leading producer of zero-calorie, natural food sweetener for research on a little-understood tropical plant.
MSU Technologies and Business-CONNECT, meanwhile, are readying to move closer to the business action in the East Lansing Technology Innovation Center ... which has germinated 14 start-ups so far, many of those led by MSU students or graduates.
MSU is using Pfizer’s donated Holland laboratory to conduct research and commercialize technology in the Bio-economy Institute. We also are working with Lakeshore Advantage there to offer business services and lab incubation space, plus displaced worker training ... all centered around biomaterials, specialty chemicals, and biofuels.
The Prima Civitas Foundation is an outcome of the very long relationship between Michigan State and the mid-Michigan business community, and we are partnering on a number of work force development initiatives in a 14-county area of Michigan.
Last November, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership rolled out a new economic development plan for the Tri-County Region with our assistance, and at the moment it is sponsoring a business plan competition, Next Bright Idea, whose finalists include seven MSU student-led projects.
We all are fully cognizant of the need to keep talent in Michigan, and all of us are working on multiple fronts. One program, Intern in Michigan, is statewide effort engaging key partners including the Detroit Regional Chamber and West Michigan Strategic Alliance. Our goal is to place 25,000 Michigan college students in Michigan-based internships by year five of the project.
Our land grant mission has long mandated a statewide approach to service, and we’re leveraging new technology to help do it. Broadband Internet access, for example, is to today’s Michigan residents what electrification was during the Great Depression.
As then, we’re helping extend technology’s benefits to underserved areas ... in one case through a new Stimulus grant-funded partnership with the state to equip public library computer centers.
Likewise, application of new technology will help our most traditional statewide engagement network, MSU Extension, deliver programs and services aimed at connecting 21st century Michigan residents to the world knowledge economy.
MSU Extension is consolidating administration and refocusing on four top priorities to reflect Michigan’s changing needs:
Agri-food, our first green economy;
The emerging 21st-century bio-economy, including biofuel, wind, and other sustainable forms of energy;
Health & nutrition; and
Children & communities.
And we are partnering with enterprise social media company INgage — whose CEO you will meet shortly — to apply the collaborative power of the Internet to more fully connect our Extension programs and citizens around the state.
Another aspect of our agri-food enterprise outreach needs to be acknowledged here — the MSU Product Center, which works with entrepreneurs to develop business plans and tap markets for agricultural and natural resource products, including in the biotechnology realm.
Last year was particularly busy for the Product Center ... our counselors worked with 274 clients on business concept development alone ... and helped launch 19 new ventures.
I’m happy to see our colleagues from Michigan Technological University represented today. Michigan State and Michigan Tech are collaborating on several projects supporting the proposed Frontier Renewable Resources cellulosic ethanol plant in Kinross.
Along those same lines, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station facility near Escanaba is retooling and being renamed to reflect its focus on forest biomass research.
We can’t talk about outreach in the service of state competitiveness and quality of life without mentioning our Land Policy Institute... which among a number of services is mapping optimal areas for wind and solar energy development.
A new initiative is being spearheaded by LPI and MSU Extension in cooperation with state agencies and Michigan’s 14 Planning and Development Regions... The Michigan Prosperity Initiative will identify and catalyze regional economic, natural and cultural assets and marshal the state’s communities to develop regional prosperity plans.
Such plans are a common element among the nation’s most successful regions, and will assist communities plan for growth and make themselves attractive to the knowledge workers who will be key in our 21st century economy.
Michigan State culture might be synonymous with Spartan athletics to much of the world, but let me mention the impact of some of our other cultural enterprises.
Wharton Center for the Performing Arts’ annual economic impact on the Tri-County community has been estimated to be $4.7 million. Two leading international publications last year ranked Wharton Center in the top 20 for ticket sales ... it is a major regional asset and in fact a multi-state travel destination.
Now we’re extending the benefits of Wharton’s management organization elsewhere around the state. Wharton Center recently signed a management agreement to coordinate the day-to-day operations of Broadway Grand Rapids ... and in December we worked out an agreement to manage the City Opera House in Traverse City.
No community can thrive without a thriving arts component, after all. This month, we break ground for the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on campus, which we expect will be an internationally recognized modern art destination.
Let me close with a brief mention of our international connections, and how those serve the interests of Michigan and its citizens. We’ve maintained an Office of International Programs since 1957, realizing even back then the growing interconnectedness of the world.
Some 1,400 of our faculty and staff are involved in international scholarship and we lead the nation among public schools for undergraduate study abroad participation. We are leaders in teaching Chinese and Arabic languages, and we’re working in places such as Brazil, Thailand, Micronesia and throughout Africa to collaborate on sustainable agricultural programs, eco-tourism initiatives and other critical areas.
As we ... and our sister institutions ... take the best of Michigan to the world, we also bring the best of the world to Michigan. That means hosting some of the world’s best faculty and researchers, and international students who help connect us to an ever-flatter world and a growing world knowledge economy.
How WSU is advancing our state (President Noren):
As Michigan’s only urban research university, Wayne State takes its presence in Detroit very seriously. While each of the URC universities is involved in the renewal of Detroit, Wayne State occupies an especially influential niche — located in the very heart of the city and with business, governmental, educational and cultural partnerships extending throughout the metropolitan area. The Detroit area offers Wayne State a great advantage as a classroom and laboratory for research in which to develop solutions and urban leaders of major importance to the challenges faced by all of America’s great cities.
This is very important to all of Michigan, because the state’s economic future is inextricably tied to the economic future of metro Detroit. A key fact is this: While the six-county Detroit metropolitan area (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Livingston and Lapeer counties) is home to 44 percent of the state’s population, it accounts for fully 52 percent of Michigan’s Gross Domestic Product.
Central to the economic future of both Detroit and Michigan are key elements in Detroit’s quality of life: public schools, safe streets, rapid transit, efficient public services, ample green space, and critically important-entrepreneurship. Addressing those challenges constructively and creatively will result in attracting and retaining professionals and their families, not to mention the companies for whom those people work now, and more importantly the new companies that will recruit them in the future and thereby build Michigan’s economy.
What this means for a research university like Wayne State and our URC partners is that everything interrelates: As we strive to improve the economy, we also must help upgrade those things that influence the city’s desirability as a place to live-in partnership with the legislature, the governor, corporate Michigan and civic and non-profit organizations.
I recently was invited to St. Louis for an “Anchor Institutions Conference” sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the State University of New York and Washington University. We had a small and select group, primarily administrators from metropolitan universities with major medical centers; other participants came from the Brookings Institution, the Annie E. Casey and Surdna foundations, as well as consultants in urban redevelopment. Given its special character and leadership role in confronting the challenges of an urban environment, Wayne State was Michigan’s representative at the conference. We were one of only 12 universities participating, along with Johns Hopkins, St. Louis University, the University of Kansas, Syracuse, the University of Missouri, SUNY, Pittsburgh, Akron, Rutgers, Portland State and Washington University,
Our discussions focused on ways in which leaders from higher education and other organizations can promote improvements in the economy of older cities that are moving away from a manufacturing base. This is especially critical if you accept the proposition that America’s transition to a new economy will begin in its large cities; universities have the multiple assets, especially the expertise and research capability, to play a key role in assisting that process. We were guided by Brookings’ belief that the nation’s next economy gradually will emerge as more export-oriented, innovation-led and low-carbon. Everyone had a great deal of material to share; some of it dealt with successes, some with frustrations. But it all was useful and the sort of thing each of us could take home and build on.
I also have been invited to represent Wayne State University at a major national summit in April on the future of communities impacted by the drastic changes in our automotive industries. This forum — the result of collaboration among Brookings, the U.S. Department of Labor and a number of national and local philanthropic organizations — will discuss the economic future of auto communities. We’ll be looking at the ways in which innovative policies and public-private-philanthropic partnerships can jumpstart their economic transformation, especially by leveraging the innovative approaches already under way in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere.
This meeting, which has extreme importance for our area and the people who live and work here, is an invitation-only event involving 300 to 400 national, regional and local representatives. It will feature high-level political, corporate, civic, academic and philanthropic leaders, as well as Obama administration officials and members of Congress. We are hoping that a series of federal and philanthropic commitments, some of them of direct benefit to Michigan, will be announced at this event.
As developing technology and a transforming economy change the nature of work and even eliminate entire industries, a creative, technologically skilled and entrepreneurial workforce increases in importance in the global marketplace.
Just north of our main campus, TechTown, our research park and business incubator, is a product of Wayne State’s long-term commitment to promoting an entrepreneurial culture. TechTown is becoming an “entrepreneurial village” where startups receive the resources they need to become successful, from business plan assistance and market research to executive coaching and networking events.
Today, TechTown is giving new life to the economies of Detroit and Michigan by assisting 160 tenant companies in the life sciences, advanced engineering, alternative energy and information technology, among other fields. TechTown’s community of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and corporate partners stays busy stimulating new businesses and jobs. Last year, TechTown was chosen to participate in a multimillion-dollar grant-funded project of the New Economy Initiative and the Kauffman Foundation that is designed to train new entrepreneurs and create some 400 businesses over each of the next three years.
This year TechTown also will become home to Michigan’s first stem cell commercialization lab, an achievement that was influential in the recent decision naming Detroit and Wayne State — as part of the URC — as hosts of the upcoming World Stem Cell Summit in October. This places us in good company, for this event was last hosted by Johns Hopkins.
We also are placing more emphasis on global partnerships through TechTown. In late 2009, for example, we collaborated with the Jewish Community Relations Council on a trip to explore cooperation between Wayne State and higher education institutions and businesses in Israel. Our delegation of deans, faculty and staff found energetic receptivity for creating formal partnerships.
We went to Israel because much is happening there in advanced technology and entrepreneurship that is of great interest here in Detroit and at Wayne State. Israel has achieved a prominent place in the world economy; Michigan has assets essential to returning our economy to global prominence. Israel has an enthusiastic culture of advanced technology and entrepreneurship, which matches our interests and through which mutually beneficial agreements can emerge.
Our group returned with a long list of promising new opportunities for TechTown that are a win-win proposition for Wayne State, for Israel, for Israel’s Muslim population and for Detroit and Michigan.
Right now, in TechTown’s geographical and scientific neighborhood, Wayne State has a shovel-ready project with Henry Ford Health System that we expect to create more than 2,000 jobs during construction and lead to more than 1,000 new permanent jobs for Michigan. We are proposing a six-level, 350,000 square-foot Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building — or MBRB for short — that will become the nucleus of translational research between Wayne State and Henry Ford, and that will position Wayne State and Detroit as national leaders in biomedical science.
A closer look at the MBRB turns up some interesting and encouraging figures:
An estimated $230 million will be spent on labor and materials during construction.
During the five-year phase-in period, the MBRB will generate $234.4 million in statewide earnings.
During construction and phase-in, the MBRB will generate $36.3 million in new state tax revenues, repaying the state's proposed investment of $55 million by 2021.
Once operational, the MBRB will create 572 new jobs and spark 462 additional jobs statewide.
Following phase-in, MBRB operations will result in new earnings of $61.1 million per year in Michigan.
The MBRB will generate $6.6 million in new tax revenues for the city during construction and the phase-in period, and $1.3 million per year thereafter.
Given its ability to influence Michigan’s economy and our state’s place as a leader in life sciences research, we hope you and your colleagues will support our capital outlay request for this important facility.
At Wayne State University we are still optimistic about the future of Detroit and Michigan despite their economic difficulties. But we also believe that now is the crucial moment for Michigan to take serious and lasting steps to link its aspirations for that future with the transforming capacity of its public universities. This is especially true of research powerhouses like Wayne State, the University of Michigan and Michigan State.
To better position Detroit and Michigan for economic competitiveness and a return to the prosperity our citizens deserve, we have to recognize higher education as the primary transforming force for our state in the decades ahead. At Wayne State University we are committed to working in partnership with you and other leaders of Michigan’s government to ensure a future of long-term progress and financial stability for both public higher education and the entire state.
Thank you.
How U-M is advancing our state (U-M President Mary Sue Coleman):
Thank you for the opportunity to tell you about the work taking place at the University of Michigan.
I have been coming before this committee for eight years, and I realize this is the final year of service for some committee members.
I want to thank you for your support of higher education in Michigan. We all know that a strong system of colleges and universities is essential to our state’s future in the national and global economies.
At the University of Michigan, we are seeing an entrepreneurial culture that is stronger than ever.
For several years now, we have been placing additional emphasis on entrepreneurship. The University of Michigan has always stressed leadership and creative thinking, and those skills are more important than ever.
It’s really taking hold, with both our students and faculty.
It is our job as a university to teach, encourage and reward innovation and creativity. That ranges from engineering and business to the arts and humanities. Across the university, we have close to 100 courses that explore entrepreneurialism.
It’s critical that we instill in students a mindset that encourages creative thinking and risk-taking. I am particularly impressed with their enthusiasm and desire to jumpstart the economy.
One of our student organizations is MPowered, and its members really push entrepreneurialism, particularly through a campus-wide competition called 1,000 Pitches. The idea is to generate 1,000 business pitches by students. In the first year, just over 1,000 pitches were submitted.
This past fall, twice as many business ideas — more than 2,100 — came in from students. Venture capital firms support this competition and reward the best ideas. It’s really gaining traction — with students and the venture community — as a showcase for student innovation.
Another greater showcase is TechArb, an incubator space created by and for students. There are some fascinating new companies being launched at TechArb, including CrowdClarity, a forecasting tool for product launches. CrowdClarity projects to clear $1 million by 2012.
Just as exciting as the students’ work is the location of their incubator: they are just down the hall from the Ann Arbor offices of Google and Ann Arbor Spark, which makes for intriguing conversations and interactions.
The results of these student start-ups be profound. One recent success story is HandyLab, a medical diagnostics company created by two U-M graduate students. Three months ago, Becton, Dickinson and Company of New Jersey acquired HandyLab — for $275 million.
This sent tremendous signals to venture capitalists, both here instate and on the coasts, that Michigan start-ups have genuine potential. At U-M, our start-ups have attracted $82 million in venture funding in the past year.
And the 60 people employed by HandyLab are staying here, in Michigan, to continue building our life sciences industry.
Our faculty are equally committed to pushing their work into the marketplace to help build spur our region’s work in the life sciences, renewable energy, and health services. Our professors launched eight companies in the past year, during an economic downturn where we really thought we’d see only three or four such launches.
We’ve now seen 83 faculty start-ups in the past nine years. That’s roughly one new business, every six weeks, since 2001.
Our faculty have been just as aggressive about attracting federal stimulus dollars to the state. Their proposals have garnered $225 million, which places U-M among the top three universities nationwide in obtaining stimulus dollars.
Let me give you two strong examples of how work that begins in a university lab or classroom makes a genuine difference.
First is the impact of discovery by a member of the faculty. A family-run company from the west side of Michigan, S2 Yachts of Holland, is using a technology created by Professor Guy Meadows, of U-M’s Marine Hydrodynamics Lab, to build environmental monitoring buoys. These are buoys that gauge the health of the Great Lakes, and NOAA is purchasing them from S2 Yachts.
This increase in business for S2 Yachts is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs for the company. S2 Yachts is a company working to diversify, and U-M is helping make that possible.
We are seeing this kind of technology transfer and spin-off success repeated throughout the university and region, with Professor James R. Baker and NanoBio, a biopharmaceutical firm; Professor Anne Marie Sastry and Sakti3, a battery technology firm; Professor Gary Glick and Lycera, a pharmaceutical company; and more. University discoveries are creating jobs and businesses.
Second is the overall impact of our research enterprise, which is among the largest in the country at more than $1 billion.
This includes the emerging crown jewel of U-M innovation and discovery, the North Campus Research Complex. This is the former Pfizer R&D complex, and since we last met the University has finalized the purchase of the property and we are beginning to occupy some of the site.
The key to the North Campus Research Complex is collaboration — between faculty from different disciplines, and between the university and external partners. We are identifying our areas of research for the complex, and are focusing on large, complex issues that demand a multitude of approaches.
Building the NCRC will take time, but it will pay long-term benefits in the form of jobs, spinoffs, incubator space, and public-private partnerships, all of which will advance the state’s growing work in life sciences, renewable energy and health sciences.
All of this activity signals a growing entrepreneurial culture at the University of Michigan and, as we’ve heard, at our sister research institutions.
To present a broader picture, we’ve invited several guests to join us in our testimony today. These are three individuals whose work has been shaped by our universities, and who are contributing to the state’s economy through innovation and creativity.
We’ll first hear from Jason Bornhorst, a recent engineering graduate of U-M whose entrepreneurial activities as a student continue to pay dividends for the Ann Arbor community and beyond.
Following Jason will be Mike Smith of Cf6 Technologies, LLC. Cf6 Technologies LLC is a Wayne State startup company that is developing post-processed carbon fibers which are manufactured into high strength light weight parts. Their products are in demand from the automotive, aerospace, and defense sectors. The company uses proprietary processes to both recover the carbon fibers and reuse them in value added form back to its customers. Mike Smith and Tom Banks founded Cf6 Technologies in October 2009. Mike Smith has 25 years of experience working in the environmental, defense, and oil and gas industries. Tom Banks has 35 years of experience primarily in the automotive industry with companies such as Ford Motor Company, Collins & Aikman, and Roush Industries.
And after Renee, we will hear from Kim Patrick Kobza, who is president and CEO of INgage Networks, a global leader in enterprise social media solutions. INgage is a new partner with Michigan State, and he will tell us about this venture.
