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July 5, 2016 By AMK

Georgia Tech names new VP of EI2

The Georgia Institute of Technology has named Chris Downing vice president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2).
Chris Downing, Vice President of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech
Chris Downing, Vice President of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech

The announcement ends a six-month national search for a new vice president, following Stephen Fleming’s decision to step down from the position in December 2015. As the Institute’s chief business outreach organization, EI2 is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development.

Downing reports to Stephen E. Cross, executive vice president for research at Georgia Tech.

“I am thankful for this opportunity and I remain focused on our core mission at EI2 to fulfill Georgia Tech’s commitment to economic development,” Downing said. “Working with the dedicated professionals at EI2, we will enhance Georgia Tech’s work in designing the future through our service to entrepreneurs, business, researchers, innovators, and the people of Georgia.”

Downing had served as EI2’s associate vice president since 2012 and as interim vice president.  He has been at Georgia Tech in various leadership roles related to economic development since 1988.

“EI2, including its multiple programs that support Georgia startups, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs across the state, serves all aspects of economic development in Georgia. It is a vital component of the innovation ecosystem we have built at Tech Square,” Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson said. “Chris has worked diligently to support and enhance our economic development initiatives, as well as to forge and maintain strong partnerships with other organizations across the state to strengthen the Georgia economy.”

Downing, whose past posts at Georgia Tech included serving as research engineer, program manager, regional manager, and director of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) — EI2’s largest program — has brought national recognition to the unit and several awards, including the 2014 Innovation Award in Economic Development from the Association of Public and Land Grant Institutions, the 2014 Outstanding Research Park Award from the Association of University Research Parks, and the National MEP Innovation Award in 2011 for the GaMEP.

“Chris has elevated EI2’s commitment to technology commercialization, business and industry outreach, and entrepreneurship,” Cross said. “Through his leadership, EI2’s stature and prominence in Georgia as the state’s most comprehensive economic development organization has risen. His passion and commitment to EI2’s mission has helped to make Tech Square the Southeast’s premier neighborhood for innovation and economic development and is instrumental in helping to define other innovation neighborhoods adjacent to the rest of the campus.”

About the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2)

The Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) is the Georgia Institute of Technology’s chief business outreach and economic development organization. EI2’s core mission is to provide an exhaustive suite of programs to assist business, industry, entrepreneurs, and economic developers across Georgia. As the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-base program of its kind, EI2 helps enterprises of all kinds and sizes and across all sectors improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology, and innovation.

In addition to the GaMEP, EI2 houses a diverse group of programs, each focused on the needs of business and economic development.  The programs include the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Center, the Southeastern Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (SETAC), VentureLab, and a variety of other programs that provide support and assistance in the areas of commercialization, entrepreneurship and business services.

For more information, please visit innovate.gatech.edu.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: commercialization, economic development, EI2, entrepreneurship, Georgia Tech, industry

October 28, 2014 By AMK

White House releases Georgia Tech-influenced national manufacturing roadmap

Leaders from Georgia Tech participated in the release of the President’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP 2.0) final report, a one-year endeavor to outline a roadmap to secure U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson served on the 19-person AMP 2.0 Steering Committee and numerous faculty and staff put in many hours serving on various workstreams that focused on different aspects of manufacturing competitiveness.  This effort builds on the original AMP which kicked off in 2011 and ended in 2012 and also included Georgia Tech as one of a select few universities invited by the White House to participate.

Presidential SealBoth President Obama and Commerce Secretary Pritzker attended the out-brief from the AMP Steering Committee on Oct. 27, 2014 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, and Georgia Tech Provost Rafael Bras represented Georgia Tech.

“The Georgia Tech community should be proud of the role that our team played in influencing this important report,” said Georgia Tech President Peterson. “Manufacturing has been central to Georgia Tech’s mission since its founding and we’re honored to add our collective experience and expertise to help grow the manufacturing economy in our country.”

Building upon the report, Obama announced a series of executive actions to strengthen U.S. advanced manufacturing, including a $300 million investment in the emerging technologies of advanced materials including composites and bio-based materials, advanced sensors for manufacturing and digital manufacturing.  Read about the multi-agency and private sector effort > 

Following the White House meeting, Georgia Tech researchers were invited panelists at a briefing hosted by the Innovation Policy Forum of The National Academies to discuss the report’s recommendations for enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline and improving the business climate for manufacturing. Georgia Tech’s Tom Kurfess, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, addressed the report’s findings for enabling innovation, specifically on developing technologies to build a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). Jennifer Clark, Director of the Center for Urban Innovation at Georgia Tech, spoke on Improving the Business Climate and recommendations related to Scale-up Policy. The U.S. has been the leading producer of manufactured goods for more than 100 years, but strengths in manufacturing innovation and technologies that have sustained American leadership in manufacturing are under threat from new and growing competition abroad.

The AMP 2.0 report identifies the role of the Executive Office of the President in coordinating the federal government’s advanced manufacturing activities and defines responsibilities for Federal agencies and other Federal bodies in implementation.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: Commerce Dept., competition, economic development, economic recovery, Georgia Tech, innovation, manufacturing

May 25, 2012 By AMK

Agencies told to assume the worst in budget requests

The Obama administration still holds out hope of avoiding the across-the-board budget cuts required under the 2011 Budget Control Act, but it is nonetheless instructing federal agencies to begin preparing their fiscal 2014 budget requests assuming a 5 percent cut in discretionary spending.

Acting Budget Director Jeffrey Zients in a memo to agency heads on Friday said the coming spending plan will build on the Budget Control Act and the fiscal 2013 document’s framework, and hence “must continue to cut lower-priority spending in order to create room for the most effective investments in areas critical to economic growth and job creation, including education, innovation, infrastructure, and research and development.”

Keep reading this article at http://www.govexec.com//management/2012/05/agencies-told-assume-worst-budget-requests/55865/?oref=govexec_today_nl.

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: budget cuts, economic development, education, infrastructure, innovation, research

February 1, 2012 By AMK

Georgia Tech’s EVP for Research testifies before House Armed Services Committee

Georgia Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross testified before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee’s panel on Business Challenges within the Defense Industry on Jan. 23, 2012.

Cross was invited to present testimony at the hearing entitled, “Doing Business with the DOD: Getting Innovative Solutions from Concept to the Hands of the Warfighter.”  The panel asked for insight on the role that universities, research institutions and laboratories play in developing innovative technologies for the Department of Defense, particularly in the effort to transition research from academic concept into production.

As part of his testimony, Cross highlighted Georgia Tech’s FY 2011 $643 million in research expenditures and how the institute supports and translates defense research through technology transition and innovation programs.

“Defense research and associated technology transition and innovation programs are vital for ensuring the United States retains a competitive advantage in its national security posture,” Cross said. “As shown time and time again, the fruits of defense research seed economic development helping accelerate new technologies to market.”

According to Cross, such technologies are available for use in defense systems at a fraction of what they would otherwise cost and in a much reduced time frame.

Cross also mentioned the significance of The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech and the role it plays in providing specialized training and consulting support to both the government acquisition and business communities.

Representatives from the Stanford Research Institute and the MITRE Corporation joined Cross in presenting testimony.   A copy of his testimony can be found here.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: DoD, economic development, innovation, research, technology development

October 18, 2010 By AMK

Recession makes innovation more critical than ever for competitiveness

The recession has expanded the business advantages of Georgia manufacturers that compete on the basis of innovation in new or technologically improved products, processes, organizational structures or marketing practices. These innovative companies are more than twice as profitable as firms competing on the basis of low price.

That’s one conclusion of the 2010 Georgia Manufacturing Survey, which also found that companies are preparing for post-recession growth, expanding export capabilities, addressing sustainability issues — and still dealing with out-sourcing and in-sourcing. The survey, which included nearly 500 manufacturers, was conducted by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, and Kennesaw State University, with support from the Georgia Department of Labor and accounting firm Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP.

Georgia has approximately 10,000 manufacturers that provide nearly 350,000 jobs and account for 11 percent of the gross state product. Workers in manufacturing companies earn wages averaging nearly twice those of workers in retail companies.

The survey found a widening profitability gap between manufacturers that compete on the basis of innovation compared to those that use other competitive strategies. That gap has grown in each survey conducted since 2002.

“Companies that compete on the basis of innovation are much more profitable, pay higher wages and more likely to benefit from in-sourcing opportunities than firms that compete on low price,” said Jan Youtie, the survey’s director and a principal research associate in Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. “Adoption of an innovation strategy can be useful to manufacturers regardless of industrial segment, and is especially important during difficult economic times.”

As part of the survey, companies were asked to rank six competitive strategies for their importance to winning sales. More than half of the respondents mentioned “high quality,” while approximately 20 percent chose “low price” or “adapting to customer needs.” Fewer than 10 percent reported “innovation/new technology” as a primary competitive strategy.

Across all six strategies, innovation was associated with the highest mean return on sales: 14 percent, compared to just six percent for the low-price strategy. And those financial benefits extended to workers, whose annual salaries averaged $10,000 per year more at innovative manufacturers than at other companies.

The top five innovative tactics reported by respondents were (1) working with customers to create or design a product, process or other innovation, (2) signing a confidentiality agreement to access a new product or process, (3) working with suppliers to create or design a product, process or other innovation, (4) purchasing new equipment, and (5) conducting research and development activities in-house.

While manufacturers of technology products are most often associated with the strategy, innovative companies can be found in all industrial segments, said Philip Shapira, co-director of the survey and professor in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy.

“Many people think that innovation is something that has to be done in a lab, but our results show that innovation occurs more broadly, particularly as companies partner with customers and suppliers to take into account their needs for a new product or process,” he explained. “While high technology companies tend to be innovative by their nature, innovation occurs across all segments, and every firm has opportunities to be innovative.”

Companies often cite cost as a reason for not innovating, but Shapira noted that only 10 percent of companies take advantage of R&D tax credits; fewer still use investment tax credits. “While financial incentives can assist innovation, there is a greater need to build awareness and capabilities among more of the state’s firms to undertake innovation,” he said.

Though more than two-thirds of Georgia’s manufacturers have cut jobs or lost sales in the recession, many of these companies are now looking toward the future with plans for locating new customers, boosting capital investment, expanding research and development and continuing to reduce costs.

“When we look at their plans, Georgia manufacturers are in an expansive mood, looking for new customers and getting ready for the next phase of economic growth,” Youtie said.

The survey found that 70 percent of respondents were looking for new customers, 20 percent planned to expand capital investment, and 15 percent planned to increase expenditures on research and development. At the same time, 60 percent of respondents said they still planned to cut costs.

Another trend studied was growth in the number companies selling to international markets. More than half of the responding manufacturers said they were exporters — and those manufacturers reported 50 percent higher profitability than non-exporters. Some 22 percent of respondents had increased their export sales since the last survey in 2008.

“We don’t find much difference between exporting companies when comparing them by the amount they export,” Youtie noted. “What seems to be important is the capability to export. We think there is some learning that takes place, and some capability that a company develops to become an exporter. That capability translates into improved performance across the board, in addition to creating new markets and different margins.”

The survey also found that out-sourcing of work has leveled off, with approximately 16 percent of manufacturers affected by the loss of business in 2010. At the same time, the percentage of firms benefitting from in-sourcing — movement of work to Georgia — has grown to nearly 15 percent.

“Out-sourcing isn’t going away, but it has stabilized,” Youtie said. “In-sourcing appears to be growing, which creates opportunities for good manufacturers to benefit from consolidation of production from other U.S. facilities or even from overseas.”

The study also looked at sustainability issues, and found that 60 percent of companies recycle and attempt to reduce waste — one form of sustainability. However, just 11 percent of respondents had inventoried their carbon footprints or emissions, and fewer than five percent were using renewable energy.

The bottom line for manufacturers?

“The results of our survey can point manufacturers to a way forward for getting ready for the next phase,” said Youtie. “Companies can develop innovation capabilities; they can look into exporting and they can collaborate more with suppliers and customers.”

___________________________________

Research News & Publications Office
Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986 ) (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Nancy Fullbright (912-963-2509 ) (nancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon –  October 18, 2010

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: competition, economic development, innovation

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