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I’m a part of, or at least listen to, a lot of conversations about economic development in Arkansas, and one idea comes up just about every time — more alignment between private industry and postsecondary education.
It’s a platitude that gets repeated ad nauseam, and sometimes I wonder if people realize how many institutions are already doing this. Look no further than Arkansas Northeastern College, which has positioned itself expertly to meet the needs of its students and the northeast Arkansas steel industry simultaneously.
We’ll hear even more about cooperation between postsecondary schools and private businesses over the next year. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said recently that she hopes the 2025 legislative session will focus heavily on higher education.
A higher ed refresh offers an opportunity to think more deeply about the relationships between our state’s industries and its colleges and universities. So the timing was propitious last week when the Arkansas Research Alliance released a new report titled “Ensuring an Innovation-Led Future for Arkansas: University Research Competencies Aligned With Industry Growth Opportunities.”
It offers a far more nuanced look at academia and industry in the state, plunging beyond jobs and skills training. The report looked for areas of congruence between the state’s research strengths and the innovation demands of businesses in the state.
It puts the onus on both parties. Researchers need to understand the urgency of market demands for innovation and profitability; companies must identify and engage researchers who match their specific needs.
“Overall, the findings reveal a target-rich environment for industry to tap university research and, together, drive societal benefit and economic growth opportunities,” the report’s preface reads. “Therein lies the key: together.”
The report was guided by an impressive group of business executives, academics and government leaders, and it found seven areas where research specialties and business needs align:
- Population health innovations and clinical research.
- Power electronics, advanced packaging and grid management systems.
- Next-gen transportation and logistics systems.
- Materials engineering applications.
- Precision agriculture.
- Food production and integrative health.
- Supply chain, retail and consumer analytics.
These findings should give executives confidence to approach and collaborate with the talented researchers in our state and ought to give researchers some clarity about how to target innovations with end-uses in mind.
I hope that this report — or at least the philosophy behind it — will color how we approach cooperation between academia and industry. It is far better than the inclination to build factories for the sole purpose of churning out worker bees.
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