As Luis Proenza sees it, there’s nothing exaggerated about the assertion that greater innovation springs from Akron than from any other region in Ohio. It’s simply a matter of record, says the president of the University of Akron.
“It’s well documented that this is a community that has reinvented itself economically several times,” Proenza says, citing business activity ranging from servicing canal boats and manufacturing farm machinery, clay products, marbles and matches to ruling the rubber world.
“We went from the rubber economy to the diversification into a broad array of other polymers, and now, there’s a strong focus on information technology. So, this is truly a community that’s experienced in rebuilding its economy, time after time, and making it stronger each time,” he says.
There isn’t a better example of innovation, says Proenza, and the University of Akron has played a big part in those dramatic turnarounds.
“The University of Akron is credited with having laid the groundwork for the polymer science and polymer engineering discoveries that allowed Akron to move from being the rubber capital of the world to now being the polymer capital of the world,” he says,
Observing that there are two principal sources of innovation, Proenza first cites colleges and universities as increasingly potent factors in the modern knowledge economy.
“Here at the University of Akron, our polymer program is the only science and engineering-based program in Ohio to be ranked in the top five nationally. Our intellectual property portfolio is the second largest among all of Ohio’s public universities, and relative to the size of our input and research programs, it is by far the most productive in all of Ohio.”
In addition, says Proenza, innovation is primed by strong research and development activities at major corporations. In both cases, that’s where technology transfer comes into play — and that’s a topic Proenza has focused on since joining the university in January 1999.
“If you think about what the innovation engine is in America, it begins with research and development, and inventiveness based on existing and emerging knowledge,” he says. “All of this occurs at colleges and universities, and in industry. It moves into the array of taking new knowledge and protecting that through patent and copyright activities. Then it moves into the arena of technology licensing and commercialization.”
Referring to the regulatory and legal environment that governs the deployment of new technologies into the market place, Proenza says the University of Akron’s school of law is taking a significant leadership role in intellectual property law. Proenza cites Public Law 96.517, passed by Congress in 1980 to allow universities to assume title to intellectual property developed under federal grants and contract sponsorship.
As a result, universities have been able to more quickly make new technologies and new knowledge available, and, in turn, become more involved in the licensing and commercialization of new technologies.
“Those activities are very much part and parcel of the whole innovation engine, and the result is the creation of a new product, process, technology or a new company — and that’s the way in which new wealth is generated in the new economy,” he says.
Proenza has also become widely known as an advocate for the combined endeavors of education, government and private industry to foster innovation and spur economic wealth. He says the University of Akron leads the way in that effort.
“Beyond our polymer science and polymer engineering laboratories and programs, we’re doing some exciting things to bring together all of the elements of what constitutes the innovation engine,” says Proenza.
For example, the university’s college of business has a potent program in entrepreneurship and another in global business that are gaining national and international recognition. The university’s sales and marketing program — essential to making commercial products available and promoting them in the commercial chain — is in the top five such programs in the nation.
The school of law’s excellence in intellectual property law becomes increasingly important as the number of patents grows, and as the need increases for intellectual property management experts. Proenza says the school of law tied this year for the No. 1 passage rate in Ohio’s bar exam, and he intends to drive the program in intellectual property law to rapidly to become one of the nation’s top five such programs.
“When you combine all of these elements with our existing intellectual property portfolio, and the process we have for managing, licensing and commercializing technology, you begin to see that the University of Akron is a center of excellence in technology development and commercialization for the state of Ohio,” Proenza says.
Proenza says that when academia unites with government and private industry, the result is a power and magic that spawns innovation.
“The power and magic largely lies in the fact that universities have been the place where discoveries are made at the cutting edge of disciplines,” he says. “For example, it was at a university that the principal discoveries took place that enabled the microelectronics revolution and the biotechnology revolution. And it is at universities where discoveries continue to be made that result in continued evolution of those industries, and where we already see the future of totally new industries.”
Once those technologies are commercialized by industry, Proenza explains, academia receives feedback about technical problems that must be resolved by applying cost-effective solutions to real-world problems. And that’s where government plays a big part.
“Government provides roughly 70 to 80 percent of all of the funding for university-based research,” he says. “And through a network of federal R&D laboratories, the federal government is a very large contributor to the generation of new knowledge and technologies. So, when you bring academia, industry and government together in partnership so that a piece of work may be a joint venture, that’s the power and magic that creates innovative ideas and endeavors.”
Convinced that the key to innovation lies in the combined efforts of education, private industry and government, Proenza says that Ohio’s government needs to make significant investments in academia to enhance R&D capabilities that would, in turn, compel additional investments by private industry and the federal government.
“Together, that would increase our capacity to innovate through research and development, making Ohio an educational powerhouse,” he says. “As it is, Ohio is lagging in this economic development.”
Sharing a favorite analogy to emphasize the importance of education, industry and government partnerships, Proenza chuckles and says, “Most people understand the theory of the birds and the bees. Sex is to babies as R&D is to wealth procreation.
“Conception is the common element.” How to reach: The University of Akron, (330) 972-7111
