Educating a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs

Some resist thinking of higher education and business together, assuming the two shouldn't mix. Others question the competency — let teachers teach, and doers do.

But as the knowledge-based economy continues to grow, education is tied to personal, business, regional, national and global wealth like never before. The question is not whether higher education should be involved in economic development, but rather how best to deploy our public investment in higher education to advance our students, our communities and the state.

Here is some advice I would offer us all to help avoid the pitfalls, and reap the rewards of a progressive public/private partnership.

• No Entitlements. Academia and the Supreme Court are among few institutions where the concept of tenure, or lifelong job protection, is still evident in our society. Devised as a way to allow inquiry of unpopular truths, bestowing tenure on proven faculty has been the best way of protecting academic freedom. But there can be a flip side. Tenure shouldn't creep into a broader sense of entitlement, such as pay raises without merit, facilities without justification and spending without reason.

• Be relevant. The criteria that drive academic performance and recognition are often totally unrelated to anything practical — at least in real time. Thus, the notion of the university professor toiling away in the ivory tower is reinforced when worldly experts can't (or won't) become actively engaged with real-world local problems, much less feel an obligation to contribute toward their solution. Performance should be tied to accomplishments beyond publications alone, including discoveries, applications in business and informing public policy. The scholarship of engagement is real for teaching, research and service.

• Take risks. If unchecked, concern about reputation, alumni, students and faculty approval can create a risk-averse university culture. Such a place becomes a faceless bureaucracy, where tough decisions are sent on a never-ending route of approvals, through a never-ending list of mid-managers. Economic development — progress, for that matter — is rare without calculated risk. Priorities must be demonstrated, even when the decisions will be unpopular.

• Be diligent, transparent and accountable. A transparent and open relationship between research universities and the private sector is necessary to keep innovation strong.

Great universities recognize the role of service, and the importance of being both locally and globally engaged in problem solving. While being actively engaged with the private sector, colleges and universities also must — through audits, peer reviews and examinations — shield their findings from political or business bias. A university's reputation as an impartial authority, consultant and honest broker is instrumental to its success. This role is as necessary in informing progressive public policy as it is in fostering a healthy climate of evolving businesses, from micro-enterprises to multinationals.

Today, more than two-thirds of the nation's basic research occurs in the labs of universities and other nonprofits; most of it is government sponsored. The public doesn't directly benefit, however, until results are published or passed on to the private sector for further development and delivery to the marketplace. This pipeline has been a key to U. S. competitiveness over the past 50 years. Maintaining an innovation ecosystem of ideas, and keeping it open, is a job for academia, business and government.

Properly done, higher education not only keeps its graduates in the work force, it offers them a higher income-earning potential. In addition to emphasizing math, science, engineering and biology — we must also deepen the educational experience that fosters creativity, critical thinking and an exposure to the learned skills of entrepreneurship. Future Washingtonians must know how to create a job as well as how to get a job in an innovation-based economy.

The good news is that Washington is aggressively taking steps to better link our public universities and economic development. The various governing boards, our elected officials, even the newly recast Economic Development Commission are counting on education as a key to growing Washington's innovation economy. University-business relationships may pose situations that beg a conflict of interest, but rather than avoid or ignore their importance, an engaged university expects, discloses and openly manages these relationships.

Washington enjoys recognition as a noteworthy hub for innovation. Our educational system — and higher education in particular — has a critical assignment both in educating Washington's next generation of economic leaders and in helping create the economy where they can succeed and thrive.