Alliance Claims $1.3B in Arkansas Impact

Sometimes a little bit really does go a long way.

That’s the case with the Arkansas Research Alliance, a nonprofit that addresses the state’s need to attract, retain and recognize research talent. Founded in 2008 and modeled after the Georgia Research Alliance, the ARA recently published a comprehensive report outlining the organization’s economic impact during the past 15 years.

The numbers are impressive.

The ARA estimates that its research funding and startups created from that research have had a $1.3 billion impact in the state. Researchers who have received ARA grants have used that money to secure an additional $205.7 million in funding from federal organizations, like the National Science Foundation and the National Infrastructure Safety Foundation. ARA programs have generated $26.1 million in cumulative contribution to state tax revenues, the report said.

These figures are the result of an investment of only about $8 million during the past decade and a half. The ARA operates on an annual budget of about $2 million, 65% of which comes from the state and the rest from board dues. The nonprofit’s board consists of executives from the private sector and chancellors from five universities, including the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Arkansas State University.

During the past few months, I’ve been looking into how other states, like Utah, have created successful ecosystems of entrepreneurs and technology startups. A key part of developing these ecosystems is building strong research programs in universities that will attract more students, ultimately creating a pipeline of employees for various tech sectors while raising the profile of universities nationally.

The ARA has been quietly doing this for years in Arkansas and is proving that with modest investments in talent and projects, the payoff can be huge. Via university partnerships, the ARA has attracted researchers like Fabricio Medina-Bolivar to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. There, Medina-Bolivar studies hairy roots, a type of plant tissue culture that can be used to benefit human health.

The U.S. Department of Defense supports ARA Fellows Alex Biris and Mark Smeltzer with the development of techniques that demonstrate bone regeneration. That research led to the creation of NuShores Biosciences LLC in Little Rock. The company produces patented bone and tissue regeneration technologies.

Min Zou, a 2016 ARA fellow at UA-Fayetteville, partnered with Hytrol Conveyor Co., which has operations in Jonesboro and Fort Smith, to incorporate nanotechnology coatings that enable conveyor belts to run more efficiently and with less noise. (David Peacock, Hytrol’s president, is on the ARA board). In addition to ARA support, Zou also secured a $500,000 NSF grant for her research.

“That [collaboration] was a big win,” Bryan Barnhouse, ARA president and CEO, recently told me during a meeting at its new offices on Main Street in downtown Little Rock.

Now, with evidence that the ARA model works, the organization is hoping to expand its programs and its budget for more exponential growth in coming years.

“If you are able to do this for this amount of money, imagine what you can do with 2X in a shorter amount of time now that we know what we are doing,” Barnhouse said. “That is the ultimate goal, that with evidence that with more funding we would be in a position to have more impact in Arkansas and bring more of these research discoveries to life.”