Business Engagement Goes Statewide

The launch of the new Michigan-Corporate Relations Network (M-CRN) may be just what the doctor ordered to help lift the state of Michigan out of its economic doldrums.

As the nation’s first statewide university-business engagement network, M-CRN will provide companies, large and small, with greater access to the deep pool of talent, resources, and facilities at the state’s six leading research universities. By fostering closer ties between industry and academia, the initiative will fire up the growth and productivity of Michigan-based companies and attract new businesses to the state while bolstering teaching and research on campus.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) board awarded a grant of more than $1.8 million to a collaboration of six public universities to create the statewide network. These university partners include the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Michigan Technological University, Western Michigan University, and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Collectively, the six institutions account for 98 percent of the academic research and 99 percent of all patent activity done in Michigan.

“Michigan is one of the top states in the nation for research and development, with more than $16 billion in industrial R&D and close to $2 billion in university research [annually],” said Michael Finney, chief executive and president of the MEDC, who chairs the MSF. “Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Dell were born on college campuses, and we want to keep helping our leading universities turn the latest developments into jobs.”

The MEDC grant will be used to expand existing business-engagement centers at the University of Michigan, Michigan State and Wayne State, and to establish new ones at Michigan Tech, Western Michigan and U-M Dearborn. The centers, which offer a range of concierge-style business-development services and the convenience of one-stop shopping, have proven effective in helping companies navigate through the university maze to connect with faculty, students, technology-transfer offices, and professional-development programs. Once M-CRN is ramped up and running, this connectivity will link business-engagement activities across all six campuses.

“Academia’s role in the economy is changing rapidly,” said Daryl Weinert, executive director of the U-M Business Engagement Center, who spearheaded the grant proposal. “It’s critical that we recognize businesses as clients and be responsive to their needs and, at the same time, enhance the teaching and research at our universities.”

In addition to expanding business-academia interface, the M-CRN initiative will offer partial funding to budget-constrained small and medium-size companies for student internships, faculty research projects, library access, and brainstorming sessions, and will establish a Web-based portal for searching faculty expertise across the six-university network.

More information: Contact Stella Wixom, director of the U-M Business Engagement Center, at stwixom@umich.edu or 734-647-1000 or visit www.bec.umich.edu.