BY LUIS M. PROENZA
PRESIDENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
Few things heighten our collective anxiety more than the thought that we do not know where we are, how we got here or what lies ahead. Thus, it is no surprise to find economic, political and corporate leaders echoing the trite refrain that our economy is in uncharted territory. I suggest that, instead of wringing our hands over what the future may hold for our region, we should instead put our hands to work to create our future. To paraphrase computer technology pioneer Alan Kay, the best way to predict the future of Northeast Ohio is to create it ourselves.
How do we create this future? Through innovation. Having served for several years on both the Council on Competitiveness1 and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, I can tell you about the power of innovation and how our national innovation ecosystem is the basis for advancing our common future. The innovation ecosystem is that collection of loosely interrelating elements that enables us to make new discoveries, capture their value in the marketplace, enhance productivity and, thereby, increase our standard of living. Thus, to build value in Northeast Ohio, we need to sharpen, augment and otherwise ensure in every respect that our innovation ecosystem is thriving. Further, we must understand that innovation is not limited to scientific research, but includes many other endeavors through which value is created in the marketplace.
Innovation has been the basis for American competitiveness, as amply described in the Innovate America report of the Council on Competitiveness. The principal finding of that report is this: Where we once optimized our organizations around efficiency and quality, today we must optimize our entire society around innovation.”
The genesis of innovation always is new knowledge or the application of knowledge in novel ways. Universities and colleges are integral to the process of knowledge creation and, often, to the forging of new ideas that have practical applications.
University-driven innovation cannot occur in a vacuum, however. It requires a close and deep collaboration between state and local governments, universities and industry, and it requires a willingness to experiment with new models and new alliances. The economic clout of such collaboration provides an exciting agenda that has been emerging for many years and more formally in the last three years. That is because the resources for innovation are concentrated in our cities and their larger metropolitan regions.
Consider these statistics from several recent national studies:
- Of the more than 3,600 colleges and universities across the nation, just over 1,900 — more than half of the national total — are located in the urban core. 2
- 83 percent of students nationwide are attending colleges and universities in urban core and fringe areas. 3
- 85 percent of all jobs are in urban core and fringe areas. 4
- Urban institutions account for 68 percent of the economic activity generated by colleges and universities, and if we include those located in the urban fringe of our cities, the total rises to more than 87 percent. 5
In other words, nearly 90 percent of the economic power of our colleges and universities is expressed in our core cities and their metropolitan areas. And in those regional centers of population, metropolitan-sited universities represent a critical mass of innovation resources that give cities and regions a competitive advantage.
Quite simply, metropolitan universities are a major economic force in, of and for our cities, and therefore for our region. They are key anchors for economic growth that, in turn, spur regional economic development.
According to a paper published by CEOs for Cities, “...these so-called ‘anchor institutions’ represent ‘sticky capital’ in cities. They cannot easily pick up and leave the community. So they have special importance to the re-making of the city and its future, and they have special reason to want to be instrumental in shaping their city’s future...” 6
Also serving as anchors in this revitalization are local, state and federal governments—which must be, and are becoming, better partners.
Greater Ohio, in partnership with the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution, has undertaken an initiative to revitalize the state’s core communities and reinvigorate their economic competitiveness.
Their report, Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing Ohio’s Core Communities, states its “...principal finding is that Ohio’s political, corporate, and civic leaders must take stock of the state’s core communities, their assets, their challenges and their role in the economy and life of their regions, the state and the nation.” 7
Yes, Ohio’s challenges are many. Our median household income trails national levels, and Ohio’s growth in population has stagnated at one percent, while the nation experienced seven percent growth8. More troubling is the fact that a mere 21 percent of our population has a college education at a time when nearly 70 percent of newly created jobs require advanced learning. 9
The report concludes that “Ohio’s best chance to alter its trajectory is to leverage its assets where they are found - in metropolitan regions. It is metropolitan areas - networks of urban, suburban and rural areas inextricably linked by social and economic ties - that concentrate the assets that drive prosperity: Innovation, Human Capital, Infrastructure and the Quality of Place.” 10
The Urban Serving Universities Coalition, which University of Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher chairs and I co-chair, has been working to articulate an urban university agenda that consists of three strands of activity: talent development, strengthening community
and health.
Talent development is vital to the functioning of our civic society, and business and industry tell us that workforce development is their highest priority. However, it has been difficult for our nation to advance educational attainment and assessment of talent remains a partially subjective process. This is due to a failure to connect all of the pieces of the education puzzle – a failure to “connect the dots” if you will. Perhaps if we explore an analogy we might be able to make some headway:
All of us know of the great strides that industry has made by relentlessly focusing on and refining its materials and component supply chains. Indeed, supply chain management is a well-developed discipline. Yet, I know of few companies that have discovered the parallel of the human capital supply chain, in which talent requirements are managed with a supply-chain-like discipline.
At The University of Akron, we have a saying that “our expertise creates the new materials for the new economy.” That saying actually has a double meaning of materials and human capital - and we take both meanings most seriously. In short, we are approaching the question of a talent supply chain at its most proximal source to business, namely the university and working with businesses to better understand their requirements.
As it pertains to the second strand of our urban agenda, strengthening community, we have devised a new version of the 3 Rs to describe the activities of the new metropolitan university - Regionalism, Relevance, and Revitalization. Regionalism is about defining strengths and opportunities from an expanded perspective that transcends traditional, but outmoded, boundaries.
Relevance refers to the “real-world” application of all knowledge in the many academic disciplines for the public good. This approach stands in contrast to the age-old “ivory tower” model in which universities and their interests were seen as totally independent of the needs and challenges of the communities in which they happen to sit.
When it comes to Revitalization, universities can and do play key roles. At The University of Akron, our own innovative revitalization program is the University Park Alliance, which has leveraged some $13 million in grants from the Knight Foundation and already garnered more than $200-million from private investors. Our goal is to create an environment that attracts and retains the kind of innovative talent that Akron needs. In the next five years, we hope that these investments will reach upwards of a billion dollars in the 1,000 acres surrounding our campus.
Finally, the health strand refers to our abilities to provide training and continuing education to those who provide health care in our cities, as well as the potential of our outreach and research activities to improve the quality of life and health for our society. One of the best examples is the recently announced BioInnovation Institute in Akron. The Institute is a unique collaboration between The University of Akron, Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron General Health System, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Summa Health System, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the city of Akron, Summit County and the State of Ohio. Together, we are investing $80 million initially to pioneer the next generation of life-saving biomaterials and medical technologies. It will position Akron as a national and international leader in biomaterials and advance its reputation for excellence in biomedical research, education, clinical services and commercialization. We also will see improved medical care for the underserved, strengthening of health care professional education through simulations and other technologies, and clinical trials for devices and therapies.
Of interest, but not surprising, is that some of the key partners in the Institute also are primary forces in our University Park project. That fact demonstrates the interlacing of the three strands of the urban agenda that I described above, as projects and benefits to the community overlap, complement or spin off of each other.
Today, our cities and metropolitan areas must acknowledge that their competitive and comparative advantages are inextricably linked to the vitality of their metropolitan-sited universities.
As Washington Post writer Neal Peirce wrote, “. . . universities could and should be a resource, a secret asset, for the health and growth of great cities . . . there is an appetite out there for attuned universities, truly engaged with their communities.” 11
I suggest that we must engage in relentless innovation, in education generally and higher education in particular. We must do so because in today’s knowledge-based economy, education is society’s infrastructure. Education unleashes the power of innovation by creating the human capital - the talent supply chain - that shapes our industries and our society.
Innovation requires interaction among great talent, and that interaction most frequently occurs in high-quality urban locations near our universities. That synergy helps to attract and retain talent.
Yes, we do live in interesting times. And, to meet the challenges of global competitiveness, we must continually redefine the nature of our universities to help strengthen our core communities.
In all candor, this will not be something that is easy to do. But if we are confronted by the reality that change is necessary, let us embrace it. Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention… and it now is absolutely necessary that we invent the best future that we can, rather than waiting in denial and wishful thinking. NEO
1. Council on Competitiveness, “Innovate America.” National Innovation Initiative Summit and Report, May 2005, http://www.compete.org/publications/detail/202/innovate-america/
2. Pierce, N. “Wake-up call for academia.” The Washington Post. May 29, 2002.
3. NCES, NSOPF. Study of Postsecondary Faculty. 2004.
4. Cited at Council on Competitiveness Regional Innovation Summit. 2005.5. Pierce, N. “Wake-up call for academia.” The Washington Post. May 29, 2002.
5. Pierce, N. “Wake-up call for academia.” The Washington Post. May 29, 2002.
6. Maurasse, D. “City Anchors: Leveraging Anchor Institutions for Urban Success.” CEOs for Cities. September 2007.
7. Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institution and Greater Ohio. Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing Ohio’s Core Communities. 2008.
8. Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institution and Greater Ohio. Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing Ohio’s Core Communities. 2008.
9. Whitehead, B. and Proenza, L. “Regionalism expands economic potential.” Crain’s Cleveland Business. March 10, 2008.
10. Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institution and Greater Ohio. Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing Ohio’s Core Communities. 2008.
11. Pierce, N. “Wake-up call for academia.” The Washington Post. May 29, 2002.
