Partners: technology, Education, Economic Development
Address to New York-Ontario Trade Summit
9 December 2004
[See associated news release.]
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on my second favorite topic — the first being Clarkson hockey. With a record of 6-5-4, the team is really putting a run together — oh, yes — I'm talking women's hockey.
Back to my second favorite topic — connecting technology, education and economic development. Let me begin at the end. Clarkson University takes great pride in doing what we do. Educating future engineers, scientists and businesspeople for challenging and rewarding careers; generating first-rate research that meets industry and government agency needs; developing leaders to create wealth for a better world (when I talk about the creation of wealth, I am not talking about putting dollar bills in people's pockets but developing good jobs and sustainable, responsible businesses).
Clarkson wants to be a positive force for regional economic development because we believe that this region affords a quality of life that is truly special and a sense of community that is unique.
At Clarkson, we intend to select economic development projects where our faculty, students and alumni can work effectively with others to achieve concrete results through the application of innovative and creative technology. We will vigorously pursue success in this arena.
Thank you, Senator Wright, for helping Clarkson garner resources needed in this undertaking. Let me describe this undertaking in some detail.
The Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) at Clarkson is dedicated to developing Clarkson's research and educational programs in high-technology materials processing and is focused on industrial concerns and meeting industrial needs. CAMP's mandate is to also transfer this technology to business and industry. The Center is built on Clarkson's recognized expertise in colloid and surface science and fine-particle technology. In lay terms, we are expert at helping industry develop the strongest, most cost- effective products, airplane wings, computer chips, and fiber optics, to name a few, by focusing on how the tiniest nano-size particles fit together to become the building blocks for the best end use applications in the world. CAMP receives support from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research for research and operating expenses as one of 15 Centers for Advanced Technology. In addition, CAMP-related work receives several million dollars each year from the federal government and exceptional support from private industry.
Some of the New York State corporations assisted by CAMP in the past year were Corning, Ferro, Kodak, Praxair, Xerox, Nanodynamics, Wyeth, Infotonics, GE, GM Powertrain, Composite Factory, Ames Goldsmith, and Indium. Through Clarkson projects, approximately 22 jobs were created for these corporations, their annual revenues were increased by $1.5 million, and they saw annual cost savings of almost $20 million. Four of these corporations (Corning, Composite Factory, GM Powertrain, and Wyeth are in the North Country). In addition, Nanodynamics from Buffalo has established an office at Clarkson to facilitate the transfer of technology.
Because of Clarkson's established track record of helping corporations, we were approached to join the "Essential New York Initiative." This is a 12-county effort from Cornell to Clarkson that is based on the premise that universities can play a central role in economic development. In the 12-county region, there are 35 colleges and universities with more than 130,000 college students and a workforce that is more educated than the national average. The region's five largest research universities receive more than $600 million in R&D funding each year. However, these research universities lag behind their national peers when it comes to capturing and deploying the intellectual property generated by their faculty and graduate students. Collectively we need to do a better job of transferring technology, connecting university research with industry needs, finding ways to connect students with local businesses, and providing more useful internship opportunities.
I will put in a plug for Clarkson — we receive more than 13% of our R&D funding from industry compared to an average of 4% for the region's universities. We believe that through this funding stream we are in tune with industry needs. Within the "Essential New York Initiative," using our CAMP outreach model, in partnership with Syracuse and Cornell, we have developed a "Grants for Growth" program concept that will provide seed funding for applied university-industry research projects designed to create new jobs and develop or commercialize new technologies. Funds are currently being sought to support this concept.
Through the "Essential New York Initiative," there are also efforts underway to increase regional communication and cooperation. A "Central Upstate Regional Alliance" consisting of two representatives from each of the 12 counties in the central upstate region has strong representation from the North County (Tom Plastino, John Gaus, Bob Juravich, Ned Cole, and Doreen Marks). The first meeting of the Alliance was held on September 27, and I believe that there should be an effort to connect the "Essential New York Initiative" with the Capital Corridor.
So far, my comments have described educational, technology and economic efforts south of the border. Let me give you one final picture of the future - a picture that involves private and public educational institutions, state and private funding sources, and cross-border collaboration.
Clarkson has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Ottawa. (By the way, the Rector of the University of Ottawa, Dr. Giles Patry, could not be here today but asked me to stress his commitment to collaborate.) At the moment, there are three areas of activity between Clarkson and the University of Ottawa.
1. We are discussing the development of a joint Ph.D. program in Supply Chain Management — this is the management system that underpins all modern business - how do you think Dell can receive your computer order, ship the computer to you, build it to your specifications, and do this within hours?
2. Clarkson has gathered resources to purchase $1.5 million in scientific equipment. The New York State Senate initiated Gen*NY*sis program matched this investment with $4.5 million to develop biotech labs that are being constructed at Clarkson as I speak. This will be the site for some of our Rehabilitation Science and Engineering research where we marry the needs of Physical Therapy with Engineering to create assistive and adaptive devices. Our potential partners in this venture include the University of Ottawa, as well as Carthage Area Hospital and the Samaritan Medical Center. We only need to look at our world news to see where this has impact for serving society.
3. Clarkson is proposing, along with the other Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley and SUNY ESF, a world-class research facility on the St. Lawrence River. Why? Billions of federal research dollars will be invested in understanding the environmental issues associated with the Great Lakes. We believe that these research dollars should be spent right here in the North Country. We also envision potential cross-border collaborations with the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, which has a partnership with the University of Ottawa to offer courses. This partnership will, of course, involve SUNY ESF's field station on Governor's Island at Clayton and other New York State Great Lake field stations, such as the station operated by Oswego State. One final note on this concept — the research will not be limited to the aquatic environment, but will include renewable energy projects as well as conventional projects to lower heating and electric power costs.
In all of these ventures, Clarkson wants to move beyond the traditional role of universities. We are committed to take ideas and concepts discovered in research laboratories through to commercial applications wherever and whenever appropriate. This can be a risky business but one which has the potential to advance economic development in the region that we call home.