The 09/15/06 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education features a new piece by Richard titled ‘Regions and Universities Together Can Foster a Creative Economy’. From the article,
“In recent years, many people have wanted to make the research university more relevant to business and the economy. Advocates of a greater economic role believe that the university’s most important contributions are the transfer of research to industry, the production of commercial inventions and patents, and the creation and spinoff of start-up companies.
A growing number of universities have bought into that approach — it makes their work more economically relevant, builds closer ties to industry, and creates new sources of financial support. Unfortunately, that view not only oversells the immediately commercial functions of the university, but it also misses the university’s more far-reaching contributions to the emerging ‘creative economy’.
For their part, universities should go beyond establishing technology-transfer offices devoted to commercially relevant activity — often a small effort run out of just one part of the institution. Martin C. Jischke, president of Purdue University, has said that the research university must change its mission from the static categories of research, teaching, and service to the more-dynamic ones of discovery, learning, and engagement. While all are relevant, the last one is key: Universities must engage their surrounding communities more fully and do so through not just technology, but all three T’s.
The strength of the university has always been the ability to mobilize the talent and creative energy of all its participants — faculty members, researchers, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students. When institutions draw upon the collective creative energy of thousands of people, new ideas are generated, and new talent is created on campuses and potentially in their communities, as well.”
(posted by David)
