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UK president shares entrepreneurial success stories with business leaders
University of Kentucky President Lee Todd talks about economic development initiatives led by UK during the Advantage Valley annual dinner on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008, at Heritage Farm Village and Museum.
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HUNTINGTON -- Some had been to Heritage Farm Museum and Village before, but many hadn't.
"Why haven't I come here before?" they asked as they walked down the trail of the quaint village, a replica of a pioneer Appalachian village, founded by Mike and Henriella Perry.
They were gathering for Advantage Valley's 2008 annual Dinner on Thursday evening, an event that brings together business leaders from the Charleston area of West Virginia, eastward to Greenup County, Ky. Its goal is to show members entrepreneurial success stories in other communities throughout the region, and Heritage Village is a perfect location, said Advantage Valley President Mike Herron.
The goal of Heritage Village is to show off the ingenuity of the Appalachian people, Mike Perry said. They were smart, and they could adapt as times changed. That was the message shared Thursday by the event's keynote speaker, Lee Todd Jr., the president of the University of Kentucky.
Todd spoke about the changes UK has made to launch more businesses based on faculty research. It's a program that West Virginia is adopting after the Legislature approved West Virginia's Bucks for Brains program this year.
In Kentucky, the Legislature granted money to the university to grow its research initiatives and create spin-off businesses. The university asked donors to match it and eventually had a $1 billion endowment from which it uses interest to hire research faculty from the country's top schools and create commercial enterprise.
Marshall has founded the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (MIIR) as part of West Virginia's "Bucks for Brains" initiative. MU's research will be in specialized fields such as biotechnology and biometrics, and the university announced Thursday that Allied Realty Company of Huntington has made the first donation to it. The company, owned by Lake Polan, donated $100,000.
"Thanks to support from businesses such as Allied Realty, Bucks for Brains is already facilitating the public-private partnerships that will build Marshall's research pedigree, as well as stimulate the economy and help to create jobs in the future," West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said in a press release from Marshall.
UK's initiative started out as a 20-year "business plan" the university developed under Todd's leadership. A business plan is something that can be explained to the world outside the university better than a "strategic plan" can be explained, said Todd, who worked in business for 18 years before becoming president of Kentucky's flagship university. He had patents under his belt and had started two companies.
Todd said he decided to apply for the UK job because the university has such a powerful role in the state.
"I decided the UK job was the best job in the state to change the state," he said. He wanted to solve Kentucky's problems -- ranging from the economy to health care -- and he knew that developing new research focusing on those problems is a good way to do it.
Positive changes have built the confidence among the college's donors. Since its endowment has helped UK stir up activity, annual giving has increased 47 percent, Todd said.
He shared some of the steps that helped UK compete. First, it developed the attitude that it would be competitive in licensing new technology and starting businesses. Then, it made sure that attitude spread to students and to investors in the business community. It started a Venture Club that hosts lunches where bankers and lawyers can talk with faculty about their intellectual property. It has an Angel Network, through which investors join together as a group to fund new ventures.
Todd also advised that universities be flexible with faculty who want to start a business and that they create connections to support services. Universities also need to cooperate with each other, he said, because legislators won't give money to universities that fight among themselves.
Marshall University President Stephen Kopp was among a group of West Virginians, including representatives from the governor's office, who have visited Lexington to learn from UK's success, and Todd praised West Virginia for its willingness to take an idea that works and run with it.
"I think you have a lot of things going now. ... We have to steal ideas that are good and that work, and I admire the way you all are doing that," Todd said.
Kopp, who invited Todd to speak at the dinner, said that every time he sits down with Todd to pick his brain, he just wants to sit down with him again.
"He's done things inside the academic realm and outside the academic realm that are energizing and inspiring," Kopp said.
