Bridging the Gap: Using academic research to stimulate the economy

By Krystal Brown

The National Science Foundation (NSF) reports that the state of Utah spent $2.3 billion on research and development (R&D) for science and engineering in 2007.

Utah has a thriving academic research community which has generated a highly educated work force; however, its spending on R&D ranks 28^th in the nation with above average dependence on federal funding. The state is looking to bridge this divide between industry and academia in order to capitalize on existing strengths and grow the economy.

The Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, chaired by Dinesh Patel of Signal Peak Ventures, aims to use academic research to stimulate economic growth via start-up companies, patents, and eventually large companies.

Cynthia Burrows, Ph.D. and member of the USTAR governing authority, said that USTAR is meant “to bring in the rainmakers… researchers who know how to translate ideas into businesses.”

In its first five years, USTAR has brought 43 “rainmakers” to the University of Utah and Utah State University resulting in 194 patents and 17 start-up companies or industry partnerships. USTAR professor Rajesh Menon of the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah credits the reliable funding and collaborative culture fostered by USTAR with this initial success.

Professor Menon, who joined USTAR in 2009 after 10 years at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), emphasized the difficulty in starting companies. There needs to be “a good ecosystem to help build companies” and USTAR is beginning to create that by injecting creativity and building research resources.

It will be years before this translates to a significant number of industry jobs as bridging the gap between business and academia is no small feat.

Cynthia Burrows explained this disconnect through the origination of the modern university from ancient monasteries. Traditionally, monks were sequestered with their scholarly work in order to investigate life’s basic questions, whether it be “what a star is or how to grow better peas.” The motivation for this work was knowledge.

Although today’s universities are far more complex, research of fundamental importance is rewarded by continued federal funding and academic accolade. Consequently, basic research accounted for 75 percent of the work done at universities and colleges in 2008 according to the NSF. Conversely, motivation for better products at lower cost resulted in 95 percent of research done in industry in 2008 being applied or development.

While this divide between applied and basic research is the norm, schools like MIT and Stanford have a proven history of applying academic research. According to Professor Menon, these schools break down departmental boundaries. “That’s the future. That’s where you get the most interesting research,” He said.

USTAR has begun to do just this by hiring faculty in a range of departments including bioengineering, chemistry, and psychiatry at both the University of Utah and Utah State University. Both schools boast new USTAR buildings where research labs are grouped by interest rather than department.

James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building at the University of Utah (photo courtesy of USTAR)

According to Professor Menon, the initial success of USTAR has states like Nevada looking to it as a model for their own research structure.

With the creative research base being fairly well established in this first phase of USTAR, Cynthia Burrows said she’d like to see a shift in focus to nurture the existing researchers and further encourage collaboration. With this, USTAR could cultivate the ecosystem necessary to grow the economy from homegrown ideas.