Global Economic Competitiveness and the Land-Grant University

The basic thesis of this article is that, for the United States, the fundamental economic issues of our time have to do with global economic competitiveness that is dependent upon innovation and entrepreneurship, and all that this implies socially, culturally, and technologically. Further; small- and medium-sized firms, both existing and new technology-driven companies are likely to be the key to regional economic development, diversification and global economic competitiveness. The objective of this article is to review the experiences of a major land-grant university and member of the Association of American Universities (AA U) in realigning its programs and priorities consistent with this thesis. The realignment involves four major goals; (1) to facilitate the spin-off of new technology-driven, private-sector commercial ventures with which the university maintains a variety of special arrangements, (2) to develop "bridging structures" and incentives within the university to engage multidisciplinary academic resources of the university in providing customized assistance to existing small- and medium-sized firms, (3) to network the resources of the university with sister institutions and public-sector local and state level economic development initiatives, and (4) to adapt on-campus and lifelong educational programs consistent with contemporary economic competitiveness issues.