Maxmizing the local economic benefits of academic research

This afternoon the Public Policy Forum takes up the topic of the economic impact of academic research at our Viewpoint luncheon. One specific way in which research leads to job creation and business development is via technology transfer – the legal process in which new discoveries are patented, marketed, and licensed to commercial manufacturers. Southeast Wisconsin is home to several academic research institutions, each of which goes about technology transfer independently, for the most part. A new Forum report to be presented at the luncheon today examines whether greater collaboration among the region’s research institutions is needed to maximize the local economic impacts of technology transfer.

Our analysis finds that there are three models that might be considered by academic leaders to enhance collaboration in technology transfer and potentially augment the effectiveness of existing efforts:

• Joint Office of Technology Transfer
  A joint office of technology transfer could potentially result in greater expertise in economic development practice for the participating institutions, as well as economies of scale. However, a joint office may stretch the resources of technology transfer officers to the point that some institutions may experience reduced levels of service. Equitably funding a joint office to serve public and private institutions also would be challenging.
• Joint Infrastructure for Informal Technology Transfer Activities
  Currently, much of the technology transfer work performed by academic institutions is of the informal variety - building awareness of academic research projects by industrial researchers and investors through networking and partnering. At the federal level, this work is performed by a permanent consortium of the federal research labs. A similar consortium of local institutions could be created and charged with raising the profile of translational research for local industry. Each participating institution would have to trust, however, that its financial contributions to the consortium would eventually result in benefits for its researchers.
  
• Joint Economic Development Entity
  We found four different types of collaborative economic development agency models aimed at increasing the local economic impact of academic research. All are aimed at encouraging and supporting the transfer of technology to local industry and start-ups, but each does so a little differently. The biggest hurdle for this model is sustainability - a previous, state-funded, southeast Wisconsin economic development effort, TechStar, proved unsustainable.

In addition to considering the creation of a new full-fledged collaborative infrastructure based on one of the three models above, the region's research institutions could consider collaborating on more targeted strategies to ensure that their research positively impacts the local economy:

1. Expand the UWM-MCW First Look Forum to other research institutions—Offer more researchers the opportunity to participate in these events designed to connect academic researchers to investors and industry.
2. Jointly offer start-up support or an entrepreneur-in-residence program—Collaborate to ensure local researchers have the opportunity to be educated about commercializing technology through company formation, mentored through the technology development and venture formation process, and connected with outside resources that can provide services, advice, funding, and management expertise.
3. Jointly raise funds for pre-seed grants—Expand the UWM Catalyst Grant program to other research institutions by working together to raise additional funds from foundations and industry.
4. Utilize a joint tech transfer advisory committee—Maximize local resources by forming a joint advisory committee of investors and industry leaders to advise on patenting decisions, particularly those arising from research projects conducted collaboratively by two or more CTSI institutions.
5. Create a local industry database—Provide researchers at all local institutions with data about industry needs and interests, as well as contacts, by jointly creating and managing a local industry database.
6. Host clinician informant panels—Increase awareness among researchers who are not also clinicians by jointly hosting opportunities for discussion of clinical problems in need of solutions.

It is clear that the region’s academic research institutions have yet to capture the full economic development potential of their research. By collaborating more closely to identify local discoveries that fill gaps in the global market, and by working together to help create or grow local players in that market, academic leaders could take better advantage of their rapidly emerging research prowess.

Apps for Milwaukee

The open government data movement is a global effort to increase government transparency, civic participation and innovation through public access to municipal data. In the age of the ubiquitous software application (app) for use via personal computer or mobile device, governments around the world are profiting from the creativity of tech-savvy citizens by making data available for the development of useful apps. Since 2008, several U.S. cities, including Washington D.C., San Francisco, and, most notably, Chicago, have started to share government data and even sponsor competitions to encourage the creation of innovative local apps.

Could open government data improve quality of life in Milwaukee? Perhaps Chicago’s experience will help answer that question. Apps for Metro Chicago, which launched on June 24th, is currently accepting submissions for the first of three rounds of competition. The first round seeks apps aimed at improving transportation in the Chicago metro area, with subsequent rounds focusing more broadly on solving community problems and improving services. With $50,000 in prizes, the public will help to choose the winners by voting for the apps they believe are most useful.

Apps for Metro Chicago is the first competition of its kind to involve four levels of government: the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and the State of Illinois. Together, these governments have made more than 175 data sets available to the public in an open format. These data sets range from municipal service requests to hospital information to neighborhood demographics.

Chicago’s competition is also unique in its emphasis on rewarding civic value. The judges will grant bonuses for participants who partner with a business or nonprofit to solve a real, local problem. As the competition’s website states, “the key to winning this contest is to demonstrate that you have created something useful for our community.”

In addition to rewarding community partnerships in the judging phase of the competition, Apps for Metro Chicago is actively helping to connect community organizations looking to solve specific problems with citizens with the skills to create apps. Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC), the research and consulting group coordinating the competition, is working to make these kinds of connections. One interesting partnership is a collaboration between a local industrial retention initiative and an app developer to write a truck routing app that takes into account weight limits, clearances, road blockages, and other factors to improve the efficiency of distribution.

The accessibility of government data in Milwaukee certainly would impact the replication of a similar competition here. The City of Milwaukee has COMPASS and Map Milwaukee, useful web-based tools that provide municipal data on local demographics, property, crime, traffic accidents and more. These applications allow Milwaukeeans to query information and create maps, but the data is not in an open format and thus cannot be easily reused and shared. The Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee also makes a limited number of data sets available for public use, including information on neighborhood demographics, crime, and geography. Their Data Center also provides technical assistance to the public to help make the data easier to understand and utilize.

One Milwaukee-specific app that has already been developed is the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus tracker, which estimates bus arrival times. It can be downloaded for iPhone or Android mobile phones. While certainly a useful tool, the bus tracker tool bases its estimates on set route schedules and could be improved by utilizing the GPS technology already used by MCTS buses to report arrival estimates in real time. Similar real time apps have been created in many U.S. cities, including Chicago.

If the city, county, and other government bodies opened their data sets to public use, the possibilities could be endless. Judging by developments in other cities, it is possible to imagine apps that allow us to find out what’s happening in Milwaukee neighborhoods on a given day along with information on where we can park our bicycle or car nearby, report potholes on our streets and receive notification of repairs, or keep us updated on how our representatives at all levels of government vote on important issues.

With resources like COMPASS, Map Milwaukee, and the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee’s Data Center, Milwaukee is in a good position to take the next step by making more municipal data available in an open format. Creatively using such data could be a simple and cost effective way to make government more useful to today’s tech-savvy citizenry.