East Carolina uses innovation to boost region's development: university's technology transfer creates products for its business partners and jobs for its graduates and other residents in eastern North Carolina.

• Position: EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

It's one thing to educate people. It's something else entirely to help create jobs for students earning degrees. By sharing technologies and partnering with outside firms to develop life-changing products, East Carolina University is boosting the development of an entire region and strengthening its business partners in the process.

To enhance the economic vitality and quality of life in eastern North Carolina, East Carolina uses technology transfer--sharing research and innovation with businesses and interested parties--for public advantage. This type of work can have several results, such as new product or business development or advancement of an existing business. The transfer of knowledge is important because the university community has a duty to broadly disseminate its works for the public benefit, says Marti Van Scott, director of the Office of Technology Transfer. The department works with the university community to determine how to develop ideas through partnerships with outside firms and agencies and then translate them into products for practical use.

Economically vibrant regions are fueled by the strength of their research universities, says Ted Morris, associate vice chancellor of engagement, innovation and economic development. But institutions of higher learning in rural areas struggle with an unintended downside: Highly educated graduates often take their talents elsewhere.

In its goal of developing better skills, higher-paying jobs and talented local employees, ECU created a plan two years ago that targets industry-specific clusters--advanced-learning technologies, advanced-medical innovations and the military--through research-and-development partnerships with a wide array of interested parties. This targeted, precision marketing approach links ECU'S strengths with regional needs, creating jobs, reinforcing existing businesses and supporting the development of new businesses through partnerships with the university community to transform eastern North Carolina into a hub for business and creativity.

Through such work, ECU has developed innovations and technologies to enhance education and workforce training, offer new medical options and help address the needs of the military community. "We like to solve the problems that keep CEOs or base commanders up at night," Morris says.

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For those partnerships to thrive, East Carolina has maintained and continues to find ways to advance innovative research...