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MARK MENDIOLA Reports |
An Idaho State University vice president recently submitted proposals to Idaho Commerce Director Jeff Sayer to remove constitutional barriers impeding research and economic development at the state’s universities, which he says put them and the Gem State at a competitive disadvantage.
When he addressed the Bannock Development Corp.’s June 18 annual investor reception at Allstate’s new customer service center in Chubbuck, Dr. Howard Grimes, ISU vice president of research and economic development, mentioned he had given Sayer the proposals.
Grimes has overseen ISU’s new 250,000-square-foot Research and Innovation in Science and Engineering (RISE) Complex on Alvin Ricken Drive since November. He leads initiatives in biomedical and renewable energy research, and nano-material development for innovative sensor design, as well as environmental and geoscience networks.
He predicted the RISE Complex will dramatically change Southeast Idaho the next 15 to 20 years. “My vision is it will remain somewhat empty during its entire life span,†Grimes said, explaining new businesses will need space to operate. He expects it will be up to 80 percent full.
Grimes said he is talking with two startup companies now, and an established company is at the point it will need to do advanced manufacturing on a commercial scale. He mentioned he also is negotiating with a “very, very well-known multinational global company†whose annual net revenue exceeds $2 million.
“Six months into it, we’ve got multiple things on the burner,†he said, adding he recently was notified the National Science Foundation was awarding ISU a $5 million grant. “That is not easy to accomplish.†He expects another large grant to be announced in a matter of weeks.
The NSF also has awarded a five-year $20 million grant to Idaho universities, including ISU, to study how society and landscapes are interconnected.
Virtually every state within the past 10 years has radically altered constitutional statutes and changed policies to “incentivize†universities so they can do innovative research and economic development. “We have not done that in Idaho,†Grimes said. “Significant things need to change.â€
States like Texas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Colorado and Utah are making major advancements in developing research universities, he noted, citing Utah State University’s 30 business startups as an example. States up and down the East and West Coasts also are well ahead of Idaho in this regard.
“Paradigm shifts need to happen in the state of Idaho for all of it to be successful,†Grimes said, emphasizing there has been a fundamental shift in the federal government’s approach to funding research. “The private sector is going to have to lead the brigade forward.â€
A former Washington State University graduate school dean and research vice president, Grimes championed WSU’s largest grant funding growth in the university’s history -- 85 percent since Fiscal 2008. He also directed WSU’s Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach.
Grimes said universities started morphing into research and economic development five to six years ago. They have been forming teams of scientists to advance their work with private sector partners and secure grants, adopting an entirely different strategy of accelerating “lab bench to market†innovations, which previously took 20 years to complete. (more…)