NC State Hosts Higher Education Economic Development Summit

NC State University will host a national summit of research, higher education and economic development leaders May 31 to June 3 as the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) brings its annual Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness and Economic Prosperity (CICEP) summer meeting to Raleigh.

CICEP, chaired by NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson, leads efforts to share best practices in economic development, technology transfer and entrepreneurship, and develops tools to help higher education institutions build partnerships with government, industry, research and economic development organizations. The event will be held in the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on NC State’s Centennial Campus.

“Public and land-grant universities play a vital role for the nation as incubators of innovation and economic development,” Woodson said. “We’re excited at NC State to share some of the best practices we’ve learned and lead the discussion on how universities can better drive economic engagement and serve their communities through the creation of knowledge, entrepreneurship and jobs.”

Conference highlights include:

• At noon on Monday, June 1, Raleigh mayor Nancy McFarlane will present a keynote speech titled “Innovate Raleigh and the City’s Innovation Ecosystem.”
• At 2:05 p.m. Monday, Woodson will lead a panel discussion highlighting NC State’s industry partnerships, community-based economic development and technology-based innovation. After the panel discussion, Woodson will lead conference participants on a tour of the university’s Hunt Library and its innovative technologies.
• On Tuesday, June 2 at 8 a.m., Woodson will be part of a panel discussion on providing the workforce for the big-data revolution, and how universities can lead the charge to train the data workers needed in the 21st century.
• At 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, Bob Geolas, president and CEO of Research Triangle Park, will present a keynote speech titled “Research Triangle Park and University Ecosystems: Always Transforming.”

A full agenda can be found here.

The meeting will feature the first Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Summit, which will bring together universities – including NC State – that have received the prestigious designation as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) leader.

Currently designated institutions will have the opportunity to get ideas for advancing their economic engagement enterprise, and IEP Universities hopefuls will learn not only about the process of participating, but also practices and strategies that have been identified as effective by other program participants.

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