Recent Comments
- Ed Morrison said “George: My sense is that some folks have not engaged Twitter, so these RT's have ...” on RT @iopen2: I-Open Interview &…
- Charlie Mosbrook said “Much appreciated. I might just take you up on that.” on RT @iopen2: I-Open Interview &…
- George Nemeth said “I'd be happy to give you author permissions if you'd like to take a crack ...” on RT @iopen2: I-Open Interview &…
- punchdrunk10 said “Why did BFD become a bunch of incoherent retweets with nebulous links to outside information? ...” on RT @iopen2: I-Open Interview &…
- Ed Morrison said “During our sessions of Tuesdays@REI, we explored many of the opportunities for digital media in ...” on Retweeting @edmorrison: NYC bu…
- About BDP Comments
-
Meta
Ed Morrison · Putting the region’s challenges in proper perspective
August 9th, 2008
The University of Akron President Luis Proenza put the region’s challenge in its proper perspective yesterday.
The United States and the nation’s higher education institutions need to improve how they fund and conduct research in order to stay globally robust and competitive, the head of the University of Akron said.
The United States’ share of nearly $1 trillion in annual global research and development spending has been dropping while the share of the rest of the world is rising, Luis Proenza, university president, said in a talk Thursday morning in the student union theater.
Leaders in Florida sounded essentially the same themes of brainpower and innovation this week. Read more.
(Disclosure: I am working with The University of Akron and Purdue on regional innovation initiatives.)
Last 5 posts by Ed Morrison
- A timid step - July 10th, 2009
- BFD Learning Moment: Pittsburgh's anti-violence initiative - July 10th, 2009
- Politics of funding the Inner Belt bridge - July 9th, 2009
- Introducing Marc Canter - July 7th, 2009
- Why is Cleveland so complacent? - July 6th, 2009

August 11th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Attracting research spending (and then commercializing that research) is a key element to building a globally competitive regional economy. Northeast Ohio has lagged the rest of the country in research spending. As I pointed out a few months ago, just being average could generate 11,000 new jobs. Hopefully, the state will continue to support research through the Third Frontier program. And strong leadership from Dr. Proenza and CWRU President Barbara Snyder can help bring more research dollars to the region.
Some have raised the prospect of creating a pool of money that could be used to lure top researchers to the region. North Carolina has tried such a program. Would it work here?
August 11th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Chris,
Thanks for your note. Recruiting researchers in targeted areas makes a lot of sense as a strategy. Perhaps most successful program in this regard has been the Georgia Research Alliance.
http://snurl.com/3epn7
What’s missing in this region is a focus on what local resources could do to strengthen the research base.
While we are quite successful in attracting Third Frontier dollars, Cuyahoga County is about ready to invest $400 million plus in a highly questionable convention Center project. This public money could have been invested much more wisely by strengthening research connections along the Euclid Avenue corridor.
Cuyahoga County has the policy framework established to build that the open innovation networks from added public investment: the Cuyahoga innovation Zones.
http://snurl.com/3epqv