Michigan Best At Leveraging R and D

GRAND RAPIDS — Michigan leads the nation in leveraging university research and development into small business employment and economic growth, according to a just-released study.

The study, released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), finds that R&D expenditures by America’s universities are a primary driver of small business formation and new jobs, and positively affect local economic growth.

“We are among a small number of dedicated programs in the nation that focus exclusively on helping commercialize university-developed technology by linking it up with small businesses,” said Mark Clevey, vice president of the Small Business Association of Michigan’s (SBAM) Entrepreneurial Development Center.

“Michigan is fortunate that we have business-focused institutions like Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University and Oakland University that are eager to collaborate with entrepreneurs.”

SBAM assists small businesses in securing government R&D grants to help commercialize university-developed research in areas such as anti-terrorist technology, information technologies, bio-agriculture, alternative energy, bio-composites, environmentally conscious manufacturing and recycling technologies.

“Breakthrough technology innovations,” added Clevey, “spawned by these university-small business collaborations, are the key to future job growth and economic expansion in our state.”