newsletterINTELLECTUAL

...Scientific, business and news organizations from New York to Beijing wrote about the
discovery. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi found a way to coat surgical
devices with antibiotics to prevent infection.
...Big news for the medical field. Big, too, for economic developers.
...Mississippi has a powerful resource and economic development tool that’s sometimes taken for
granted if not overlooked. It’s a $353 million economic enterprise that produces intellectual
property that could lead to the next next big thing. And by and large, the state’s research
universities seem interested in doing more in South Mississippi.
...The Southern Miss researchers are part of a cadre of professionals who represent a large part
of Mississippi’s intellectual capital. These innovators from USM, Jackson State, Mississippi State
and Ole Miss attract millions of outside dollars for research that can lead to the creation of
intellectual property and, as a result, licensing fees, products, services, startups and jobs. They
are also magnets for high-tech companies.
...MSU President Robert Foglesong considers it the university’s mission to be a force in the state’
s economic development. A university’s basic research can lead to the products and services that
can help a community. A key to that is “operational” research – picking the most promising
research and turning that into something commercially useful.
...“That is the connective tissue, if you will, between basic research and a production facility,”
said Foglesong, a former Air Force general who said MSU is starting to do more of the
operational side.
...The University of Mississippi chancellor agrees.
...“Because our society elected to turn over a great deal of research responsibilities to universities
… funding has been flowing into universities to provide the research component of research and
development,” said Robert Khayat. “So if you just put the pencil to the bottom line, research is
an economic development activity. And it also, of course, enriches life through the development
of knowledge.”

The R&D enterprise
...The nation’s R&D effort is huge. According to the National Science Foundation, R&D in the
United States was a $342.9 billion enterprise in 2006. It involves the federal government,
academia, industry and non-profits.
...Seven Mississippi universities spent $353.2 million on research in 2005. MSU alone had
$179.8 million in expenditures, more than Florida State, Tulane and Auburn. But the state didn’t
always have such high numbers.
...Although none of the state’s research universities is based in the six counties of South
Mississippi, they do have research operations here. USM, not surprisingly, has the largest
footprint, followed by Mississippi State. Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State have expressed
interest in increasing their profile in South Mississippi, in part because of the growth of this area,
in part because of its pivotal position along a multi-state technology corridor.
...“Our obligation is to serve across the state and one of the areas that has great growth potential
is the southern part of the state. There’s already heavy investment down there in the aerospace
business and we see our role as offering our basic research expertise and our operationalizing that
research expertise to enhance the opportunities in the southern part of the state,” said Foglesong.
“We can be incredibly helpful.”
...Khayat finds it encouraging that organizations like the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for
Economic Development are focusing on the research and the science and technology fields they
support. But he doesn’t think it’s that important for the general public to understand the value.
...“I think if we were able to reach a point where people accepted it as truth, that research
programs at the universities make a difference in the quality of our lives, they impact the
economy, they’re very positive forces, then that’s about as far as we need to go with it,” said
Khayat. – Tcp

July 2007