The Association of Public Land-Grant Universities’ 2019 innovation and economic prosperity award was awarded to the First Customer and Small Company Innovation programs. Both initiatives are part of the The University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute. Since 2013, this award has commemorated exemplary leadership and innovation in the fields of entrepreneurship and technological economic growth. Both programs aim to meet the diverse needs of startups and small businesses in Michigan by creating jobs, bringing products to market and capitalizing on the University’s academic resources to provide research and educational opportunities. The Economic Growth Institute more generally aims to better the Michigan economy by providing services and allocating resources to all market levels. Vikesh Chandrashekar, project manager of the First Customer program, said the Economic Growth Institute improves the Michigan economy by engaging and supporting the many contributing entities. “The economic growth institute, the way I like to describe it, is an outward facing institute at the University where we work with regional companies and try to bolster the economy that way,” Chandrashekar said. “There’s three facets of our engagement. One is through working with manufacturing companies, another one is working with technology ventures and entrepreneurs and the third is doing research that guides this kind of work as well.” Chandrashekar also spoke on the specific purpose of the First Customer project as a major supporter of the technology economy in Michigan, helping to bring new company’s products to market in the most efficient and successful way. “We work with technology companies in helping them get their customers,” Chandrashekar said. “Technology ventures here in Michigan are heavy in technical talent, but where they might be lacking is in their sales and marketing capability… We’re trying to provide them assistance, connect them to the resources in the state in terms of consultants.” Mary McCardwell, project manager of the Small Company Innovation program, said the goal of this project has been to develop and support small businesses and entrepreneurs with the necessary resources by forming partnerships with Michigan’s 15 public universities. “We want to support innovation… a lot of innovation comes from small business, a lot of jobs are created by small business,” McCardwell said. “This particular program was for those small businesses specifically that were commercializing tech.” Paula Sorrell, director of the Economic Growth Institute, said the programs were initiated in response to a statewide demand for jobs and economic revitalization following a recession seven years ago. “The state needed to diversify the economy — so much of it was heavily reliant on the automotive industry and really the universities were such a huge asset for the state to be able to leverage those into helping small companies and to helping get innovative companies launched,” Sorrell said. “That was why it was really important to create it in the first place.” LSA sophomore Joshua Burg, a political science and economics major, shared his thoughts on the importance of cross University collaboration and the high educational value for everyone involved in such an opportunity. “I think fostering cooperation between universities is one of the key aspects of being in a university,” Burg said. “It’s how we can first of all learn… by working together towards a common goal and that common goal being altruistic, we can both follow a moral mission while also furthering our own experiences and knowledge within economics.” DIAG DOGS 2 — Wednesday, November 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News KELSEY PEASE/Daily Joe Colangelo and Amanda Ewing, professional staff for the Office of New Student Programs, bring dogs to the Diag Tuesday morning to recruit student staff for summer orientation. TUESDAY: By Design THURSDAY: Twitter Talk FRIDAY: Behind the Story MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers WEDNESDAY: This Week in History HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter Programs commemorated for exemplary leadership, innovation in entrepreneurship, tech Michigan Economic Growth Institute wins Innovation Award from APLU 7 2 8 6 8 3 1 6 4 9 5 7 2 7 4 6 9 1 5 6 2 2 7 9 4 3 5 2 Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ 1 of 1 2/10/09 8:49 PM BE GOOD DO GOOD puzzle by sudokusyndication.com University stands by women in slander suit Nov. 24, 1987 The University’s executive officers yesterday reaffirmed their support for two women being sued for slander by a visiting professor in what has become a landmark case testing the University’s commitment to its five-year old “Tell Someone” program. The program was designed to encourage victims of sexual harassment to report incidents. However, this is the first time a complaintants’ charge has been challenged with a slander suit, and University officials decided to offer legal aid. The slander suit stemmed from a student who charged that she was sexually assaulted by Dutch author and writer- in-residence Thomas Rosenboom in September. Rosenboom filed a defamation suit against the woman as well as University Sexual Assault Counselor Kata Issari. Rosenboom said the women slandered him by telephoning Germanic Languages Department chair Robert Kyes, his boss. Rosenboom will stand trial for fourth degree criminal sexual conduct December 21. He would not comment on the case. Although University officials promised legal aid to the student and counselor, on Friday the’ University’s Board of Regents called for a review, prompted by Regent Neil Nielsen’s (R-Brighton) concern about high legal costs and the University’s responsibility to provide legal aid in “private litigation.” Students, faculty, staff, and community members protested the review saying the University’s “Tell Someone” program would be worthless if the University did not “stand behind” it with legal aid. University President Harold Shapiro stymied protestor’s fears by reaffirming the University’s commitment to victims of sexual harassment. “While we are studying the matter, as the Regents have requested, the University will continue to observe the present practice which is to defend employees who may come under legal attack as a result of the performance of their duties or following existing policy such as the ‘Tell Someone’ program. “I want to emphasize that the University remains fully committed to combatting racial and sexual harassment and to the ‘Tell Someone’ program,” Shapiro said in a press release. The regents can, however, overturn a decision made by the executive officers. While Shapiro met with executive officers behind locked doors early yesterday morning to review the decision to represent the women, about 30 University protestors pounded on doors and chanted against the regents’ review request. 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