Tech Transfer: MU’s Office of Economic Development boosts tech growth

Need an update on the activities of the University of Missouri’s Office of Economic Development? Check out its new Web site, which the office recently launched with help and support from the local business community.

The site, www.economicdevelopment.missouri.edu, details MU’s economic development activities and structure.

“This is the first time there has been one place to access information about our involvement in economic development and the resources we have to offer,” said Tom Henderson, head of the office.

Beyond providing an online economic development face for the university, Henderson said, a lot of his day is spent connecting people. “It used to be that there was no central place to send someone interested in economic development,” Henderson said. “Today, more and more people know enough about what we do here to refer people to us.”

The goals of the Office of Economic Development are to increase the university’s profile as an economic development engine; coordinate activities that are currently scattered across the university; and facilitate greater involvement with the business community.

“The university is a unique resource for the whole state,” University of Missouri Provost Brian Foster said. “It brings together several things that no one else can, and we have to find the best way to coordinate all of the activities.”

Foster cited technology transfer as one of the resources. “The fact is that there is potential to create new businesses from the intellectual property we create,” he said. “Technological innovation is a major piece of economic development in the United States. We have to find ways to tap into our potential.”

Foster said that universities are inherently decentralized organizations and that decentralizationis necessarily part of producing the creativity expected from top-flight research institutions. “One thing that is inconsistent with creativity is structure,” he said. “The result is that things tend to be scattered all over the university. Our goal is to bring everything together in a way that does not stifle creativity.”

Henderson said the first step came a few years before the creation of the office in late 2006.  “First, the university had to decide that economic development would be a priority, which it did when economic development became part of the university’s mission in 2004,” he said. “That made it possible to create all kinds of opportunities throughout the university.”

Henderson said that meeting the goals of his office is a long process.

“This level of involvement in economic development is still pretty new to the university,” Henderson said. “We are still figuring everything out. We want to connect all of the separate pieces and provide a place where those who want to do business with the university, or who need resources, can find what they need.”

Henderson, who had a long career in business and economic development, emerged from retirement to lead the office part-time. “The office needs to get on its feet, and then we’ll revisit what sort of staffing will be needed to serve the university and state,” he said.

Under the auspices of the provost, the university’s formal economic development function is organized into seven committees: Quality of Life, Commercialization, MU as an Economic Enterprise, Human Resource Development, Economic Policy Development, Support for Existing Business and Direct Support in Attracting Business. The seven committees are
organized into a larger committee structure that allows participation from across the university and the community.

While most members of the seven committees are affiliated with MU, several are from the local business community, including Bernie Andrews, president of Regional Economic Development Inc.; Andrew Beverley, executive vice president of The Landrum Co.; Teresa Maledy, president of Commerce Bank in Central Missouri; Shawn Barnes, director of business development at Williams Keepers LLC; and Amy Henderson of the Communications Center.

Boone County Commissioner Ken Pearson is a member of MU’s Economic Development Cabinet, which exists within the Office of Economic Development and brings together members from the public and private sectors to help inform and guide the university’s activities.

Pearson said he first began to think of the university’s potential as an economic development driver while doing work in North Carolina. He was working near what is referred to as the state’s “Research Triangle”—Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—which often is heralded as a source of great technological innovation and the birthplace of billion-dollar businesses.

“This was the first time I’d encountered the Research Triangle and began to understand what can be accomplished when universities turn their discoveries into businesses,” he said. “That is exactly what we should be doing. We should be working with the university to create good-paying jobs that stay here.”