Executive Voices Op Ed Column

Graduating Jobs
UNC research and tech transfer are crucial to our economic future

By Molly Corbett Broad

The sobering scale of North Carolina’s current budget problems, which have been exacerbated by the unprecedented loss of manufacturing jobs, has added new urgency to the state’s efforts to make the transition to a knowledge-based economy. These lost manufacturing jobs—generally high-wage and low-skill—are gone forever, and we must find ways to replace them with high-paying knowledge jobs that can stabilize and strengthen North Carolina’s economic foundation for decades to come. The 16-campus University of North Carolina is pleased to play a leadership role in this critical effort.

After nearly a year of study and debate, the N.C. Economic Development Board is preparing to release a comprehensive, strategic economic development plan for the state. One of the early conclusions reached by the board was that North Carolina’s ability to compete in the new economy will hinge on developing a more highly trained workforce and the full engagement of our colleges and universities in creating and transferring new knowledge and technologies to the marketplace. As a result, one of the key recommendations found in its forthcoming report is that North Carolina promote an aggressive state agenda of investment in research, support for technology development and transfer, and more effective uses of university outreach to create jobs, build economic opportunity, and provide our citizens a higher quality of life.

The long-term importance of such investments has been confirmed by recent national studies, including the Council on Competitiveness’ in-depth evaluation of six “clusters of innovation” as catalysts for economic growth and value-added jobs. Its analysis of the Research Triangle concluded that innovation fueled by university research and technology transfer and an ample supply of highly skilled workers have been critical to the region’s growth and success, and that sustaining and replicating such success elsewhere in the state will require ongoing commitment to university research in areas of strategic importance.

Similarly, a study from the Brookings Institution on the growth of biotechnology centers in the U.S. concludes that future biotech prominence will be enjoyed only by those states that are able to combine a strong research capacity with the ability to convert research into substantial commercial activity. Given the established presence of biotech-related companies and the vast research capabilities of our public and private universities, North Carolina is identified as one of the very few states with the potential to achieve such prominence.

These and similar findings underscore the statewide importance of the growing volume of research conducted by UNC faculty, most of which is funded by the federal government. In fiscal 2001, our campuses attracted nearly $768 million in external research grants and other sponsored program awards, and we expect significant gains for fiscal 2002. External grant funds to UNC faculty are growing at three times the rate of state appropriations, and UNC now ranks third among public universities in the level of external support for research and other sponsored programs. These research awards support thousands of projects that address human health, agriculture, education, defense, and other areas critical to our state’s economy. Moreover, they support jobs! According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, research expenditures by UNC campuses now generate nearly 25,000 jobs in North Carolina.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals of Durham offers a classic example of how UNC research feeds the North Carolina economy. Founded in 1995 on technology licensed from UNC-Chapel Hill, Inspire now employs 54 people and has licensed nearly 20 patents or patent applications from the campus. It is developing new drugs to treat ophthalmic and respiratory diseases, currently has five product candidates in active clinical development, and expects to launch its first product on the market by 2004.

The economic activity spurred by research on UNC campuses is impacting more rural parts of our state, as well. Micell Inc., a startup company based on inventions by Joe DeSimone, a chemist who holds joint appointments at N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill, markets technologies for cleaning fabrics and industrial parts using carbon dioxide instead of toxic solvents. Recently, DuPont licensed DeSimone’s process for using carbon dioxide to improve the manufacture of Teflon. Based on this technology, DuPont is spending $40 million to build a plant in Bladen County that will employ about 100 workers.

A university-wide assessment conducted last year by the Research Triangle Institute found surprising potential for commercialization on virtually every UNC campus. With grant funding from the National Science Foundation, we recently launched a Technology Development Initiative to build greater capacity across our 16 campuses to transfer faculty research and innovations to the marketplace.

Increasingly, our campuses are redirecting and targeting resources to research areas of potential importance to North Carolina’s future, particularly emerging biotechnology fields. This is an imperative, since other states are making massive, strategic investments in the research capacities of their public universities, as are their leading biotech companies.

As a state, we too must make strategic decisions and investments in order to capitalize on our proven and potential strengths. We must very carefully balance academic and industry interests, but working together, we can leverage the considerable federal research support flowing into our universities, as well as existing industry expertise and resources. And we can seize the economic opportunities and benefits that will flow only to those states that quickly assume a leadership role in the Biotechnology Century.

Molly Corbett Broad is president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina.


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