LANSING – The University Research Corridor – Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University – is still not tops in the nation in developing and commercializing new technology, but it is gaining, according to a report issued Monday.
The three schools generated $14.5 billion for the state’s economy during the schools’ 2008-09 fiscal year, up $1.6 billion from the economic effect in 2006-07, according to the report by the Anderson Economic Group. And the corridor led to creation of 28 new companies in 2008, up from 14 in 2007, the report said.
The corridor also moved up two places each among higher education collaboratives in obtaining patents, to third place, and in licensing technology, to fourth. The schools also ranked third in issuing high tech degrees with 7,638. California’s university corridor issued 8,266 and Pennsylvania’s had 7,713.
“We founded the URC in late 2006 agreeing that we must partner or perish and these numbers show the value of working together and tapping the power of this combined resource,” said UM President Mary Sue Coleman.
MSU President Lou Anna Simon said, “In a global economy, we must continually benchmark ourselves against the best and brightest around the world. We’ve shown our state can and does compete with the best minds everywhere, every day. The URC develops the innovations and training students need for the fields that are growing or have the potential to grow.”
The report compared the joint efforts of the three schools to six other collaboratives across the country.
WSU President Jay Noren said, “Michigan’s economic diversification, and its return to prosperity, will take the kind of vision, imagination and technical expertise present in the University Research Corridor institutions. But even more than that, such a transformation will take people: skilled, knowledgeable and highly motivated men and women.”
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