Michigan State University and partner universities support Detroit’s resurgence with hundreds of millions of dollars annually in research, education and outreach services, a new study finds.
The University Research Corridor, composed of MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, added $958 million in economic activity into the city in 2015. That amounts to $1,400 per Detroit resident, according to the report prepared by Public Sector Consultants of Lansing.
The report was released at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference June 2. It documents the URC’s commitment to the people of Detroit through teaching and research, volunteer service, health care and business, schools and government consulting, among other initiatives. The report found that the URC partners contributed roughly one in 20 jobs in Detroit, or more than 11,600 jobs.
“Detroit’s been pivotal to Michigan for 300 years and has always been important to Michigan State,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “It’s a resilient, forward-looking city, and a cradle of creativity and innovation. It's a privilege to work with our many partners in Detroit to prepare for all the tomorrows of its next 300 years.”
The three universities conducted $263 million in Detroit-related research in 2015 through more than 700 research grants. More than half of the grants were focused on Detroit and related policy matters, with remainder supporting medical research there.
There are more than 340 identified programs and initiatives in which the URC universities are engaged in Detroit, nearly one third of which were focused on improving education. Other URC programs focused on the arts – including MSU’s Community Music School, public health and economic revitalization.
The MSU Product Center has held almost 2,000 counseling sessions in Detroit with more than 350 entrepreneurs, helping to create more than 100 jobs and supporting more than $11 million in investments.
Also profiled in the report is the MSU-led Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation’s location in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. MSU is leading the light- and heavy-duty vehicle component of the national institute, a 122-member consortium funded by a more than $70 million commitment over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The full report is available and can be found here.