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Business School
Chancellor Kirwan helps Corridor make the grade
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| Corridor Inc. Staff Writer
Originally published October 2007  Chancellor William E. Kirwan of the University System of Maryland at the Universities at Shady Grove. Cover photo by Christopher Myers.
It’s no surprise then that William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, likes to quote the Microsoft genius.
“There’s no economically vibrant region in America that doesn’t have at least one major research university at its core,” said Kirwan, attributing the words of wisdom to Gates.
The University System of Maryland is that university, Kirwan said of the system’s 11 universities, two research institutions and two regional higher education centers — six of which are rooted in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor.
“We are the education research engine that drives the Corridor,” he added, noting the plethora of federal government labs and outside universities, like Johns Hopkins, contribute too.
From providing employee skills and translating university research into viable companies to inspiring entrepreneurs and helping small businesses develop, there are many facets to a university’s function in furthering the economy.
“Workforce development is the near-term priority with the private sector,” explained Kirwan. “Long-term, it’s keeping Maryland positioned at the forefront with robust, high-quality research and development and technology transfer.” As Maryland moves from old-time manufacturing industries to an economy ripe with life science and biotech, it’s no surprise that the bond between higher education and economic development has become stronger.
This year, Maryland ranked third in an analysis of how well states are transforming into globalized, technology-driven and innovation-based economies, by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania ranked seventh, eighth and 21st, respectively.
 UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III says the college helps to accommodate the needs of employers. Photo by Christopher Myers.
“Universities, colleges and community colleges, as a group, are the enlighteners to the workforce of the future,” said David Edgerley, Maryland’s secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED).
Last year, the University System of Maryland awarded almost 30,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees. It estimates two out of three graduates stay in Maryland to work.
“Our No. 1 product is human capital,” said Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development at the University of Maryland, College Park. “Our largest tech transfer is at graduation.”
But it’s about more than just educating workers.
 In 2006, the system attracted nearly $1 billion in research contracts and funding from private, federal and state grants. Over the last five years the amount of funding has increased 25 percent, from more than $783 million in fiscal year 2001.
This year there was also a $15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the School of Medicine’s Institute on Human Virology to develop a vaccine against HIV.
And between 2001 and 2005, Maryland system institutions were issued 220 U.S. patents, developed 39 start-up companies and earned more than $5.5 million in income from licenses developed within the universities.
Successful companies exiting Maryland programs include MedImmune Inc., a Gaithersburg pharmaceutical company that was recently acquired for more than $15 billion and Hughes Network Systems LLC, a Germantown broadband company that generated almost $5 billion in sales between 2001 and 2006.
While Maryland is a public university and education is the priority, businesses are adjunct to its goals, said Darmody.
 The Universities at Shady Grove, a regional higher education center in Rockville, recently opened a new 192,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building which includes a bookstore and expanded library. Photo by Christopher Myers.
The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH), based on College Park’s Prince George’s County campus, is one of those programs. It’s had a nearly $13 billion direct impact on the state since its inception in 1984.
Its Maryland Industrial Partnerships program leverages university resources to drive growth in companies by creating entrepreneurs, developing new ventures and partnering with existing companies in Maryland. In 2006, the program worked with 29 companies and estimates 2,500 jobs will eventually come from those projects.
“We believe we play a significant role in economic development in the region,” said Martha Connolly, director of Maryland Industrial Partnerships. “We’re the interface between the inside and the outside of the university.”
Innovative Biosensors Inc., a Rockville company that specializes in developing biodefense pathogen sensors, was born in a College Park incubator in 2004. With senior staff hailing from Silicon Valley and the company’s technology created in Boston — two other prominent biotechnology regions in the country — the company consciously chose Maryland.
“We felt there was a strong labor force here for biotech and sciences and it had the infrastructure support for companies at the state and university level,” said Joe Hernandez, president and CEO.
 Since graduating from the incubator in February, the company has added five employees for a total of 20 and tripled its work space.
But Innovative Biosensors continues to partner with the university. Hernandez accompanied the school on a trip to China, where he identified a number of possible partnerships.
“It was just another vehicle for us,” he said. “We view our relationship as a continual one.”
At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, bwtech@UMBC — a research park that houses over 40 companies — has generated $100 million in income and $200 million in business sales. Companies located in the facility include BDMetrics, a tradeshow technology business, SPI USA Inc., a pharmaceutical and biotech consulting and training firm and Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, a NASA research center.
“We often say most healthy universities work to develop multi-level partnerships with corporate companies,” said Freeman A. Hrabowski III, UMBC’s president.
He emphasizes the university really listens to what employers are looking for.
That dialogue resulted in a degree program focused on aging inspired by Erickson Retirement Communities and a systems engineering certificate and graduate program developed by defense titan Northrop Grumman.
“It gives professors a chance to collaborate with companies,” Hrabowski said. “It’s especially exciting, giving us on campus an opportunity to develop skills and blurring the lines between universities and companies.”
At the state level, Kirwan said the system is in constant interaction with the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board about workforce needs.
“After their projections [about shortages in electrical engineering, nursing and pharmacy] we are growing those programs,” he explained.
 Joe Hernandez, president and CEO of Innovative Biosensors, which develops biodefense pathogen sensors. Photo by John Keith.
“If we look at it in a customer/consumer way, businesses and employers are the ultimate customer of the education system,” he added.
Towson University in Baltimore County recognizes that.
“As a metropolitan university, our role is to reach into the community — the public and private sectors and the community at large — to provide services and expertise,” said Dyan Brasington, associate vice president for economic development and community outreach.
Towson’s external funding in 2006 reached $16.4 million, a nearly $3 million increase from 2005. And an incubator project established recently focuses on globalization, and keeping companies competitive.
At Bowie State University in Prince George’s County, partnerships with NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center help the institution retain a claim as one of the nation’s top five producers of African Americans earning graduate degrees in technology, science and math.
“[Goddard] believed diversity would improve what they did and improve skills,” said Joan Langdon, a professor in the Bowie computer science department who heads the program. “They wanted to create that environment and work with a minority university.”
Moving forward, universities and the private sector need to work in an even more collaborative way to create stronger synergies, said Kirwan.
“The most important thing is how to make sure institutions understand the culture of corporate America, because it’s very different,” Hrabowski said.
Thanks to lingering financial woes in Maryland, this summer the university system was hit with a $12 million cut from its budget.
Businesses need to lobby their legislators to head off cuts because the only thing that could prevent Maryland from a bright future is the state’s failure to invest in building education, Kirwan said.
The real test is whether the state will make the needed investments, he added.
But, he’s staying on top of the issue.
“We have a direct interest in the health of Maryland’s economy,” he said. “The better it is, the better the support for the University System of Maryland.” < For more from UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III, go to the Urbanite’s Web site, www.urbanitebaltimore.com. Hrabowski serves as guest editor in the October issue, which discusses the economic transformation of Baltimore City. |
