Washington, DC – The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named three winners of its sixth annual Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) University Awards. The winners – Iowa State University, Kansas State University, and the University of Maryland – competed in four different categories that recognize different components of economic engagement. Iowa State University won the “talent” category and Kansas State University won the “innovation” category. The University of Maryland won both the “place” and top-prize in the competition, the “economic engagement connections” award, becoming the first university to become win IEP University Awards winner in multiple categories or in multiple years.
The winners of the awards, which honor public universities actively engaged in and promoting regional economic development, were announced at the APLU Annual Meeting now underway in Washington, DC.
“Economic engagement is vital to public universities’ mission to advance the public interest,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “By working with partners, public universities increase their communities’ human capital, innovation, and cultural richness. The IEP Award winners are on the leading edge of those efforts and we’re thrilled to spotlight their exemplary work.”
Economic engagement efforts include universities working with public and private sector partners in their states and regions to support economic development through a variety of activities – innovation and entrepreneurship, technology transfer, industry partnerships, talent and workforce development, and community engagement.
2017 Innovation and Economic Prosperity University Awardees:
There were five finalists for the 2017 IEP Awards. In addition to the four winners, finalists included the Georgia Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University.
APLU’s Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity (CICEP), which brings together public university leaders focused on economic engagement issues, designed and implemented the IEP Awards program. CICEP is leading efforts to help public research universities plan, assess, and communicate their work in local and regional economic development using the CICEP “Economic Engagement Framework.” The framework includes tools for university self-assessment, metrics determination, and economic impact analysis.
The IEP University Awards recognize specific emphases in these areas. The “Talent” award honors an institution with exemplary initiatives in education and workforce development; the “Innovation” award honors an institution demonstrating outstanding work in technology transfer, entrepreneurship, and business development; the “Place” award recognizes a university that is excelling in community, social, and cultural development work; and the top-prize “Economic Engagement Connections” category recognizes the institution that is doing the most to build connections between all categories of economic engagement — innovation and entrepreneurship, talent development, and social, community, and cultural development.
To be eligible for an award, an institution must first earn the Innovation and Economic Prosperity University designation from APLU. To receive that designation universities conduct a rigorous self-study of their economic engagement activities that includes input from external stakeholders. As part of the self-study, each institution identified areas for growth and improvement within its economic engagement enterprise and developed an improvement plan. This work demonstrated a commitment to continuous learning and improvement in this kind of engagement vital to universities and their regional partners.
Applications for the designations were scored by a panel of independent reviewers representing other universities and also national partners. Scoring was based on a range of criteria emphasizing universities’ development of their economic engagement enterprise, their planning efforts around economic engagement, strategic communications around these efforts, and participation in encouraging economic engagement among peer institutions. More than 55 institutions have been named IEP Universities designees since the program was launched in 2012.
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