Excellence in Technology-Led Economic Development: Fields of Green - North Dakota State University Research & Technology Park

by Tony Grindberg and Carol Renner, Executive Director, NDSU Research & Technology Park; NDSU Office of Research

NDSU’s Center for Nanoscale Science & Engineering, part of the university’s research and technology park, includes “clean rooms” for development of electronic sensors and microchips for business, industry and government applications.

For more than 100 years, acres of agricultural test plots surrounding the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo were a common sight. As a land-grant institution, NDSU has a strong heritage based in agricultural research. But by the 1980s, the institution and the state it serves faced obstacles. A farm economy crisis forced many farmers out of business, affecting families, farmers,Main streets and state institutions. Everyone wondered: Just where did the state’s economic future lie?

Stemming the out-migration of young people from North Dakota, creating good-paying jobs and boosting per capita income were just some of the challenges facing the state’s leaders. It took several catalysts and a team dedicated to measured change to develop long-term solutions.

Evaluating assets and forging partnerships

The state’s assets included an extensive higher education system and two major research universities, as well as a favorable tax and regulatory climate for business. State leaders established a Higher Education Roundtable in 1999 to examine North Dakota’s university system and make recommendations to improve its role in education, research and economic development.

The 60-member advisory group included members of business and industry, state lawmakers, higher education board members, college presidents, faculty, and representatives from state government and American Indian tribes. The group’s report pointed out that without action, the state would continue losing population, particularly young people in their prime career years. The state Legislature and Board of Higher Education listened to the suggestions and adopted a doctrine of flexibility and accountability that gave campuses such as NDSU the opportunity to pursue new initiatives while demanding measurable results.

Catalysts and convergence

When Dr. Joseph A. Chapman arrived as president of NDSU in 1999, research expenditures were $44 million, student enrollment was 9,700 and 150 doctoral students were on campus.“My first impressions of NDSU were that this was a tremendous university but that it did not have the academic and research portfolios of our land-grant peers,” said Chapman.

NDSU did, however, have expertise in a number of growing technology fields. An early feasibility study on the viability of a research park at NDSU focused on four regional industry clusters that were showing rapid growth: biosciences, advanced manufacturing, materials science and information technology. The study also noted that there was virtually no competition from other economic development organizations in the region. Chapman championed the Research & Technology Park concept as a place where university researchers and private industry could combine their talents to develop new technologies, methods and systems. The state’s Board of Higher Education approved the idea and groundbreaking for the park took place in May 2000.

Chapman’s early decision to pursue rapid development of a technology park coincided with his challenge to faculty, staff and students to move the entire university to the next level by increasing research activity, enrollment and doctoral programs, as well as moving NDSU athletics to NCAA Division I. Faculty and staff saw the challenge – increasing annual research expenditures to more than $100 million, boosting enrollment to more than 12,000 students and increasing doctoral student enrollment to more than 500 in six years – as opportunity.

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