University Entrepreneurship: Lifeblood to Entire Cities

 

This is part of my Series on University Entrepreneurship.

Lee Bollinger, 19^th President of Columbia University, penned this elegant call-to-arms in today’s Huffington Post. I believe it to be a very important piece in that it effectively highlights the central role that universities and colleges play in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within a city. In particular President Bollinger focuses on just how New York City, Columbia University and other peer institutions have been working together to respond to the current plight of NYC’s traditional media industry with such initiatives as the Mayor’s MediaNYC 2020 and the impending NYC Media Lab. These efforts will harness the intellectual and technological firepower of the university and combine it with the next generation of media companies burgeoning here in NYC.

He also cites some very concrete examples of the absolutely staggering influence and impact New York City’s universities bring to bear on the city:

•  NYC Institutions of higher learning  generate 65,000 jobs

•  Have an estimated economic impact of $18.5 billion annually

• Receive approximately $2 billion in combined research funding annually

• Generate 650 inventions, 200 new licenses and options, 20 new start-up companies and over $500 million in licensing revenue annually

His recognition of our efforts at Columbia’s Venture Lab and the Lang Center was also noteworthy and certainly appreciated:

“Technology from Columbia alone is responsible for an average of 10 to 12 new companies each year. Our research breakthroughs have led to the creation of over 100 new companies to-date, many of which got their start right here in the City….”

Being on the front lines of fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in NYC has never been so good. The leaders of our venerable institutions recognize the importance of these efforts and have been actively listening, assisting and harnessing them in a myriad of ways and with a multitude of programs. More on these efforts in subsequent posts, but for the time being I’m just grateful for their sense of urgency and earnestness.

 

For Part Thirteen in in this Series, click here