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More than 30 other states have funded similar initiatives, which means that USTAR backers can learn from the mistakes of others. Their initiative for Utah builds on existing industries and the strengths of each of the state's two public research universities. USU and the U may be fierce competitors on the football field, but when it comes to economic development, they'll be playing on the same team. With its faculty expertise in artificial intelligence engineering, environmental remediation, renewable energy, sustainable water management and nutrition, USU can flex its intellectual muscle on behalf of a dazzling number of state needs. The U can contribute, among other things, its faculty firepower in medicine, engineering and mining.
Two new faculty have already been hired at USU who will strengthen the defense as more states enter the competition. Electrical engineer Krishna Shenai, former senior scientist for General Electric and Intel, directed a university research center in Illinois best-known for its frontier microcircuitry (longer-lasting battery-charges for laptops; faster, lighter cell phones). Physiologist David York, after serving on the faculty of the Southampton University Medical School, became an endowed chair and professor at Louisiana State's biomedical research center. His specialty: obesity, which has reached epidemic proportions in this country. More hires of that caliber are in the works.
Even before USTAR was funded, the pace of experimental-to-marketable technology was already quickening in response to state and federal cutbacks in public higher education and research. "Only 12 percent of faculty grant proposals are funded now," says Weinshenker. "In the 1960s, after John F. Kennedy launched the space race with the Russians, 50 to 60 percent were funded."
Mindful of their responsibilities to students, taxpayers and the state, university leaders are pleased to see alternatives on the horizon, alternatives like USTAR.
The passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 was supposed to serve the commonwealth by bringing together the best minds from both worlds. As the years have gone by, and more and more faculty have crossed the divide, some researchers have worried about unintended consequences. Could "company-owned" science delay the publication of results that might save lives? If universities become too corporate-like, too wedded to the economic development interests of their states, could that inhibit collaborations among scientists in different states? Weinshenker says that with the proper oversight corporate-public research university partnerships benefit the public. Federal regulations, administered by the FDA and EPA, to protect the public from harm have not only driven up the costs for companies but for consumers. It costs millions to move a new drug through clinical trials and into the marketplace. "No company will invest without proprietary ownership," says Weinshenker. "No matter how good the technology is, if you don't patent it, no company will put the money into developing it, and none of the benefits will reach the public, unless the financial risk takers are reasonably confident of recouping their investment."
Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. and legislators who promoted USTAR want to make certain that their investment on behalf of the business community and tax-paying citizenry will pay off as well. "We're looking at this holistically. Where are the gaps in faculty specialties that will best serve the purposes of this initiative?" says Weinshenker. "We're like a corporation, how do we get from a to z. A university can do a to e," hire the missing specialists, research and develop the prototypes, watchdog the methodology and standards. "Our task is to create companies in Utah that can solve problems for the state. If we can do that, we can keep the value of those companies within the state - the high-paying jobs and tax revenues."
The State Capitol sits high on a bench overlooking downtown Salt Lake City, and Ned Weinshenker can see it from the top floor of his building on South State Street. To the east: the University of Utah and the Huntsman Cancer Center on their bench; closer by, in the heart of the downtown area, the Chamber of Commerce and city and county government buildings.
Weinshenker relishes his time at the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development as much as he enjoys the hustle and bustle of brainstorming sessions and strategy meetings on campus. "There's an energy, a creativity that arises in informal settings, when people run into each other in hallways, and one person says, 'Hey, I just thought of this,' and then someone else says, 'But what about the biology?' and back and forth it goes. When you're locked into your own world, you don't know what the other issues are. Think of all the problems that could be solved if we could assemble all the pieces."
In a state
in the bullseye of modernity like everywhere else in the technologized
world, the promise of healthier children, cleaner energy, and more sustainable
family farms and water supplies could counteract any regrets about rapid
urbanization and population growth. And if the citizens can make a much
better living than their ancestors did, the calculated risk will be worth
it, and the initial stockholders will have the satisfaction of knowing
that they entrusted their dollars in wise hands. -Jane Koerner