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| Sushil Sharma
(left) is the operating manager of the cyclotron/microPET
(positron emission tomography) laboratories
in the UND Medical School’s Center of
Excellence in Neuroscience. The University
is one of very few research institutions in
the nation operating equipment at this level.
Assisting him is Shaik Shavali, research assistant
professor of pathology. |
|
The
value of UND’s portfolio of currently active research
projects, as measured by dollars received from or committed
by external agencies, reached $299.6 million at the
end of 2003-2004. Included is $243.5 million already
received for ongoing work and $56.1 million yet to be
received for projects that are multi-year in nature.
Just how much is that benchmark in relative terms?
A lot, even when one considers that the money
is spent over several years. In 2003-2004, for example,
the University as a whole expended $282.9 million for
all purposes. So it is small wonder that research has
an important economic impact upon the state and region,
says Peter Alfonso, vice president for research. He
came to Grand Forks from the University of Tennessee
in 2002 to reorganize the research support structure
as part of UND’s Strategic Plan.
According to a study by Cullen Goenner, UND assistant
professor of economics, the institution’s $82.6
million in research expenditures generated $166.7 million
in economic output and 1,630 jobs in the five-state
North Central Region. It also generated more than $4
million in state and local tax revenues and more than
$15 million in federal revenues.
The greatest impact was within North Dakota:
$135.3 million of the economic output and 1,430 of the
jobs.
Since 2000-2001, awards have increased 84 percent
and expenditures 77 percent. This year’s sponsored
program awards of $83.03 million represented an increase
of 15.2 percent over last year. Seventy-one percent
of awards and expenditures stem from federal sources,
new money to the state.
UND researchers submitted 857 proposals during
2003-2004, requesting a total of $191 million.
Although more than 60 UND departments received
new external grants in 2003-2004, the majority of the
awards were brought in by researchers in three clusters:
1. The Energy and Environmental
Research Center, $21.3 million, comprising 30.6
percent of all awards.
2. The life and medical
sciences, including most prominently the School of Medicine
and Health Sciences, $17.2 million.
3. The John D. Odegard
School of Aerospace Sciences, $8.7 million.
UND
is well-positioned to become a research and commercialization
hub
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| Opening
in January 2005 will be the newest
structure in this complex, the Ina
Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center (below).
This $3.8 million, 20,000-square-foot, multi-tenant
lab and office facility for entrepreneurs
will host up to 20 new company startups annually
and create employment for up to 400 people
over the next seven years. The building’s
funding package includes $1.75 million from
Duraflex entrepreneur Ray Rude of Stanley,
N.D., for whose wife the building is named;
$500,000 from aerospace entrepreneur James
Ray of Sun Valley, Idaho; $800,000 appropriated
by the North Dakota Legislature, and a $800,000
grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The building is managed by UND’s
Center for Innovation, headed by Bruce Gjovig.
The Center marked its 20th anniversary this
year. It helps entrepreneurs, students, and
researchers launch new ventures, technologies,
and products; develop business and marketing
plans; access the talent at UND; and secure
sources of venture financing. It was among
the first technology and manufacturing entrepreneur
outreach centers in the nation, and has helped
launch more than 380 new ventures and technologies.
(Rendering of the Rude Center provided by
the Icon Architectural Group). |
|
A
nationally known University of North Dakota research
and commercialization complex?
It’s not so wild a dream, says President
Charles Kupchella. Indeed, a growing number of partners
— including the city of Grand Forks and the Grand
Forks Region Economic Development Corporation —
are working toward a coordinated plan to make it happen.
Much of the complex already is in place, Kupchella says.
Because the facilities are scattered across the campus
and beyond, its magnitude is sometimes underappreciated.
At least a dozen key elements are already present,
he said, including companies that have spun out of UND
research as well as the impressive facilities of such
stalwarts as the Energy and Environmental Research Center,
the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the
John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
Much — but not all — of the current
action is happening on acreage on the west side of the
campus. Besides the new Ina Mae Rude Entrepreneur Center
(see the feature at right), a 16,000-square-foot building
is being constructed by the affiliated but independent
UND Aerospace Foundation in its technology park on the
far side of Interstate 29.
Further development of the complex in collaboration
with private and public entities is high on the agenda.
UND also is ready to develop land adjacent to the School
of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Energy and Environmental
Research Center as burgeoning research at those sites
generates interest among potential partners.
The city has much to offer companies that choose
to start up or move to Grand Forks to be near the University
of North Dakota and its intellectual capital, Kupchella
says. A more coordinated and leveraged effort is on
its way to becoming part of the community’s long-term
economic development strategy, he added.
...use
the link below to read the rest of the story...
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| Ryan
Hall and the Skalicky Tech
Incubator (above) are just part of
the modern complex on the western
edge of the campus hosting aerospace education
and research, entrepreneurship, and partnerships
with external investors. |
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