APLU Names Winners of 2024 Innovation & Economic Prosperity Awards

Orlando, FL – The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named the winners of its 12th annual Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) Awards and five new IEP University designees. The awards recognize innovative projects or programs in economic engagement.

APLU’s IEP Universities designation program helps higher education institutions codify, elevate, and advance their enterprise supporting economic and community development while providing national recognition to institutions committed to university economic development. To earn the designation, institutions complete a rigorous self-study and stakeholder engagement process. They also identify their economic development strengths and areas of growth and improvement.

“Public universities are major drivers of economic growth through their talent development, innovation, and community development efforts,” said APLU President Mark Becker. “We’re pleased to recognize institutions that have made a remarkable impact on their community, states, nation and beyond in these critical areas.”

This year’s IEP University Award winners are:

• The University of New Mexico won the IEP Innovation award, recognizing exemplary initiatives spurring innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology-based economic development;
  
• The University of Texas at San Antonio won the IEP Place award, for exemplary initiatives resulting in social, cultural, or community development;
  
• East Carolina University won the IEP Talent award, recognizing exemplary initiatives in education and workforce development;
  
• Wayne State University won the IEP Economic Engagement Connections Award, the top-prize in the awards competition, recognizing overall excellence and leveraging across all three award categories.

To be eligible for an IEP award, an institution must first earn the Innovation and Economic Prosperity University designation from APLU, which recognizes institutional commitment to regional economic development.

This year, APLU named University of California, Riverside; Oklahoma State University; Rutgers University–New Brunswick; University of Texas at Arlington; University of Wyoming as Innovation and Economic Prosperity University Designees. Ninety institutions have been named IEP Universities designees since the program was launched in 2013

IEP designees conduct a rigorous self-study of their economic engagement activities that includes input from external stakeholders. As part of the self-study, each institution identifies areas for growth and improvement within its economic engagement enterprise and developed an improvement plan. This work demonstrates a commitment to continuous learning and improvement in this kind of engagement vital to universities and their regional partners.

As defined by APLU’s Economic Engagement Framework – a series of tools and publications that helps institutions better know, measure, and communicate their work in economic engagement – universities collaborate with their public and private sector partners in their states and regions to promote economic growth, competitiveness, and opportunity through a variety of efforts across the aforementioned categories.

More information on the finalists’ economic engagement initiatives is below.

The University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM) has taken a multipronged approach to fostering innovation through the support of entrepreneurship on campus and across the state. UNM has led a multi-year campaign sharing knowledge and resources with current and prospective entrepreneurs across the state while partnering with civic and private sector partners to support a flourishing start-up ecosystem across the state. With support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, UNM’s New Mexico Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program is also engaging Indigenous entrepreneurs to share entrepreneurship resources, address barriers to founding businesses, and connect tribal communities throughout the state of New Mexico to support business creation and innovation. The Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program has mentored nearly 60 Indigenous Entrepreneurs in less than two years since its founding. Overall, UNM-supported startups had a $55.4 million economic impact in 2021 and UNM researchers continue to innovate with 885 U.S. patents issued and 163 start-up companies spun-off of technology developed at UNM. 

The University of Texas at San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) boosted its economic impact in San Antonio by enhancing collaboration among students, researchers, and businesses. The Alvarez College of Business and the Small Business Development Center introduced the Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship program where business students act as consultants to local startups, crafting fundable business plans while honing consulting skills such as client understanding, goal setting, and trust building. UTSA’s Valdez Institute for Economic Development coordinates ten public service centers aimed at strengthening the economies of San Antonio and south-central Texas. This comprehensive institute offers training, advice, mentoring, and support for entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses across a 79-county region along the Texas-Mexico border. In 2023, the Institute served over 40,000 businesses, facilitated 545 new business launches, supported 900 business expansions, and helped secure over $200 million in new financing and investment.  These and other Institute efforts generated a remarkable $2.6 billion in regional economic impact. UTSA’s West Side Community Center, situated in the heart of San Antonio’s historic West Side renowned for its Mexican and Tejano cultures, serves as a collaborative hub where students, faculty, and staff partner with local organizations, civic leaders, and businesses to develop impactful community services. Key initiatives include addressing digital literacy and the digital divide in this historically underserved area. The center helped 200 residents acquire legal ownership documents and met small businesses where they are with mentoring and advising services.

East Carolina University
East Carolina University uses stakeholder engagement to assess, design, and implement innovative talent strategies for key industry sectors across North Carolina. Examples include a telepsychiatry program, a teacher preparation initiative that enhances the success of our youngest learners, and the integration of university-based dental clinics within rural communities. Mental health and substance use-related emergency visits can strain resources. ECU developed the NC Statewide Telepsychiatry Program to ensure the efficient use of mental health resources and enhance the quality of mental health care available to patients in rural and underserved regions. The program, embedded in hospitals and facilities in 60 counties across the state, has supported over 60,000 emergency room assessments and over 20,000 patients. ECU’S Early Educator Support mentorship program, meanwhile, gives 800 NC pre-kindergarten teachers a pathway to earn or maintain their teaching license while promoting positive developmental outcomes for over 8,000 children annually. The ECU School of Dental Medicine increases access to innovative dental care in areas with limited oral health care options while recruiting students interested in serving NC’s rural communities. At eight community service-learning centers across the state, fourth-year dental students complete half-year rotations providing dental care to patients and exposing them to multiple cultures and communities.  

Wayne State University
Wayne State University, a 156-year-old Detroit anchor, is driving innovation, economic development, and growth in the city with rippling impact across southeast Michigan. With its economic impact strategy goal of creating more household-supporting jobs and wealth-building opportunities, particularly for Detroiters and people of color, the university continues to uphold its commitment to economic prosperity for the community. Seeking to drive innovation in an area formerly dominated by the automotive industry, Wayne State launched its TechTown innovation and entrepreneurship hub in 2004 to support tech-based spinoffs from the university. Soon after launching, TechTown realized that the same incubation strategies could strengthen small businesses and neighborhoods throughout Detroit and now Wayne County.  Today, TechTown anchors the city’s original innovation district. Its scope includes supporting entrepreneurs and tech founders at every stage of their journey, from ideation to scaling. In addition to its small business and tech-based support programs, its 360-degree approach to economic development includes entrepreneurial education, business strategy and coaching, and collaborative workspaces meeting at the intersection of innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and community. In its 20-year history, TechTown has supported more than 6,000 businesses in and around Detroit. These businesses have created more than 2,346 jobs and raised more than $408 million in startup and growth capital. In 2023 alone, TechTown supported 1,059 entrepreneurs. Of those entrepreneurs, 63 percent identify as Black/African American, 80 percent identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, 65 percent use she/her/hers pronouns, and 11 percent are immigrants to the U.S.