U-M helps push URC past benchmarks

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

The University of Michigan is playing a key part in the growth of Michigan's emerging University Research Corridor.

URC is made up of the state’s three major research universities – Wayne State, Michigan State and U-M. The idea is to create one of the premier research and development clusters in the U.S., churning out patents, start-ups and higher-education graduates. A study by the Anderson Economic Group entitled "Empowering Michigan" shows that the URC has improved in a number of key areas since it was founded in 2007.

Among its accomplishments are upping the URC's economic impact by 10 percent in the last two years to $14.5 billion and doubling the number of university spin-offs from 14 to 28. URC is responsible for 48,786 jobs, 132,826 students and 572,123 alumni in Michigan. It’s also the home to $1.4 billion in research, 129 patents and 135 licenses between 2004-09.

"U-M adds quite a big of economic impact because of its medical campus," says Caroline Sallee, lead author of the Anderson Economic Group's Empowering Michigan study.

The university is the big bread winner for federal research funding. It has also been able to follow through on developing that research with its tech transfer and commercialization initiatives.

"They have a bit more tech transfer activity than the others," Sallee says.

Source: Caroline Sallee, lead author of the Anderson Economic Group's Empowering Michigan study
Writer: Jon Zemke