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ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CORRIDOR
Michigan's University Research Corridor (URC) is an alliance among Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University to transform, strengthen and diversify the state's economy.
Research Corridor universities spark regional economic development through invention, innovation and technology transfer, by educating a workforce prepared to participate in the knowledge economy, and by attracting talented people to the state. By increasing business partnerships - and making these resources more visible to the rest of the world, the URC will play a role in attracting and retaining business to the state while reinvigorating its economy. The URC is committed to the state's economic success and to improving the quality of life for all its citizens.
An independent study by the Anderson Economic Group found the URC competitive with top-ranked nationally established peers such as the North Carolina Research Triangle, Boston's Route 128 Corridor and the Penn State/Pittsburgh/ Carnegie Mellon cluster in Pennsylvania in terms of the assets brought to bear to spur economic growth. The report found URC members directly contributing $6.5 billion to Michigan's economy each year with one of every $50 spent in Michigan coming through one of these universities and one of every $12 spent in Michigan coming from the wages of the nearly 618,000 of their graduates living in the state.
The study found the URC investing over $1.3 billion on research and development annually, an amount comparable to or greater than that spent by peers in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The URC surpasses those two regions in the number of patents obtained and licensing revenue, two key measures of innovation.
The study also found both the URC and the Research Triangle spending far more of their research dollars on life sciences than rivals in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. These findings provide empirical evidence that Michigan's three research universities already possess the resources to play a leading role in accelerating the state's economic growth.
The University Research Corridor partners formed the alliance in November 2006 to improve the public's understanding of the three universities' present and future importance in renewing the state's economy. The URC is a means to leverage their collective assets, encourage collaboration with business, government and regional economic development organizations, with an overall goal of accelerating statewide economic development.
In 1999, the three universities helped establish a Life Sciences Corridor as a way to develop a promising new industry for Michigan. Now University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, Wayne State University President Jay Noren and Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon have set their institutions on a course to replicate that success in other promising areas such as alternative energy, the health sciences, information technology and the nanosciences.
In an era of global economic competition, research universities offer the state and nation significant strategic advantages through education in sophisticated science, technology, math, health sciences and engineering.
Michigan's three research universities attract nearly 95 percent of all federal research dollars coming into the state. Over the past five years, they have announced an average of one new invention every day; collectively these discoveries have led to more than 500 license agreements for new technologies and systems.
The value of a well-trained, technologically savvy workforce may be harder to quantify, but its place in assuring Michigan's future is beyond dispute. Each year, Michigan's three research universities produce more than 26,000 graduates including 3,800 engineers, 1,300 PhDs, 1,400 MBAs, more than 1,000 doctors and nurses and 54 percent of the state¡¯s science and engineering graduates.
Detroit News columnist Dan Howes argues that URC partners offer "the closest thing Michigan has to Silicon Valley -- an intellectual powerhouse, " while Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh says, "Aside from the auto industry, Michigan's most powerful economic institutions are its great research universities... Now they must be woven into the region's economy more directly and dynamically than ever before."
For more on the alliance, visit: http://www.urcmich.org