On July 25, Crain’s Detroit Business Power Breakfast was moderated by Chancellor Kimberly Andrews-Espie, Ph.D., and featured Crain’s Business Detroit Editor-in-Chief Mickey Siocairo (left) and presidents of Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.
DETROIT – Wayne State University President Kimberly Andrews-Espie, Ph.D., attended the Crain’s Detroit Business Power Breakfast on Higher Education on July 25 at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit, along with University Research Corridor (URC) colleagues Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz and University of Michigan President Santa Ono.
The three presidents made clear to the 250 attendees that Michigan’s three largest universities agree to maximize opportunities to work together to drive economic development in Detroit and across the state.
Espie said collaboration among universities, for-profit and non-profit businesses and government partners is essential. She pointed to data from Michigan Futures, noting that the state’s personal income has risen from 16th to 39th out of 50 states over the past 20 years.
“That means each and every one of us has to focus more on economic development,” President Espie said. “Wayne State has a long history of developing the workforce. It’s our graduates. We’re very fortunate that 80 percent of our students stay and work in Michigan after they earn their degrees. People may not be as familiar with our innovative faculty and how research leads to innovations that become new medicines, new technologies, sometimes new policies. Change helps us do things differently.”
The three presidents, Dr. Kimberly Andrews-Espie of Wayne State University, Kevin Guskiewicz of Michigan State University and Santa Ono of the University of Michigan, made it clear to the 250 attendees that Michigan’s three largest universities agree to work together to maximize opportunities to drive economic development in Detroit and across the state.
As examples, Espie mentioned how Wayne State faculty and General Motors engineers designed a machine that temporarily replaces the heart’s blood-pumping function, making many types of open-heart surgery possible for the first time; and how Dr. Zhuo-Hua Pan, professor of Ophthalmology, Vision and Anatomy, has pioneered optogenetics for restoring vision, discovering a unique, novel algae-based gene therapy that restores vision in patients suffering from blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa.
She added that Wayne State is poised to help researchers support new technology pipelines from ideas to innovation to businesses through Tech Town, the university’s research and technology park for incubating and promoting small businesses. Tech Town is an entrepreneurship hub that has supported more than 6,000 companies in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park since it opened in 2004, creating more than 2,200 jobs and raising more than $400 million in startup and growth capital.
TechTown supports small technology companies as well as small non-tech businesses such as restaurants, travel agencies, and clothing stores that similarly create jobs and impact the economy. In 2023 alone, TechTown has supported over 900 companies and over 1,000 entrepreneurs, 63% of whom are Black or African American.
The URC presidents, each of whom has been with their respective universities for less than two years, met recently to set the strategic direction of the alliance and discuss collaborative research opportunities for students and researchers from the three universities. Areas of focus that align with the state’s economic strengths include sustainability, life and health sciences, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
Espie said Wayne State is poised to help researchers support new technology pipelines that go from ideas to innovation to businesses through Tech Town, the university’s research and technology park dedicated to nurturing and promoting small businesses.
The goal is to surpass the $23.9 million net economic impact the URC brought in last year.
“Everyone was so excited. [NFL] “The draft was a great thing, it had a $165 million economic impact,” Espie said. “If you look at what the three universities do, it’s like a draft every other day of the year. That’s how big of an impact the three universities have. So think of the benefits of us working together in the city of Detroit. It benefits all of us, and Detroit benefits the state. I’m optimistic and enthusiastic. We’re a different type of university. We’re all pieces of a puzzle that, taken together, make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
Other presidents shared President Espi’s views.
“I’ve never come across a place where the stars are so aligned,” Chancellor Ono said, “here in Michigan, from Lansing to the community college sector to the research universities to Michigan business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce. What’s happening here is exciting. And let’s not forget that today is the day, and for years to come, this will be the most exciting place for higher education in the country.”
