An initial group of NC State faculty and administrators, as well as regional entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and professional service providers, gathered Sept. 26th at the Jane S. McKimmon Center for NC State’s inaugural Achieve More Field Day. The event was co-sponsored by NC State’s Economic Development Partnership (EDP) within the Office of Extension and Engagement and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) as part of their partnership to support the entrepreneurial activities of faculty and students, and enhance access to university resources by entrepreneurs, local companies, investors and the technology community.

Benefits of the inaugural event are already being realized as those within the campus community learned more about the activities of their colleagues, while those from outside the university gained greater awareness and appreciation of the many sources of innovation at NC State. As Tim Gupton, 2000-01 CED board chairman noted, “The presentations confirmed our initial thought that NC State has significant scientific and entrepreneurial activities that we in the business community only understand at a surface level.”

The primary purpose of the event was to bring these two communities, both so important to the future of our region and the state, together to build new personal relationships that will serve as the foundation for future collaborations.

In her welcome, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox challenged the participants to work together to build partnerships that foster economic growth, for example those that develop new partner leads for Centennial Campus; increase the number of innovations and technologies licensed from NC State; engage faculty and students through sponsored research and fee-for-service contracts; increase the availability of capital and other resources to support NC State start-up companies; and increase awareness of NC State’s economic development contributions and impacts.

Opening session presenters included Dr. Stephen Jones, vice chancellor for extension and engagement, who talked about NC State’s role as an engaged land- grant university, and Dr. John Gilligan, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, who spoke on the university’s research, discovery, and technology transfer/commercialization enterprise.

I shared information on EDP’s work to engage NC State resources with partners to enhance industry clusters believed to be important for North Carolina’s economic future, for example the agricultural biotechnology cluster.

NC State is part of a regional alliance seeking to implement recommendations from Dr. Michael Porter’s Clusters of Innovation research in North Carolina and the strategic plan being prepared by the Future Cluster Competitiveness Task Force chaired by former Gov. Jim Hunt. Both Chancellor Fox and UNC System President Molly Broad serve on the task force, which seeks to provide a structure for collaborative pursuit of eight industry clusters identified by the Research Triangle Institute as key to the future of the Research Triangle region and the state. They include: agricultural biotechnology, advanced medical care, analytical instrumentation, biological and infectious diseases, informatics, nanotechnologies, pervasive computing, and pharmaceuticals.

Following the opening session, eight colleges along with the Cooperative and Industrial Extension Services, the Centennial Campus Partnership Office, the Office of Technology Transfer, and the Friday Institute made parallel presentations in two sessions.

While nearly 100 people attended this pilot event, both NC State and CED plan to organize additional luncheon events beginning in November that will focus on the many resources and collaborative opportunities available through specific colleges, the extension services, Centennial Campus, the McKimmon Center, the Office of Technology Transfer and other units. These events will provide numerous opportunities for any interested faculty and students to connect with these important regional partners and resources.

For more information on NC State’s Economic Development Partnership, call 515-9433.

Posted October 21, 2003

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