High-tech manufacturing holds the hope for Michigan’s economic future, according to a report released Wednesday by MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
As of 2007, advanced manufacturing employed more than 380,000 citizens, about 10.3 percent of the state’s workers. On average, they earned more than $60,000 annually, which still is increasing. By comparison, employees in traditional manufacturing jobs earned about $50,000 annually, the report found.
Research conducted at universities including MSU provide invaluable new technologies, support for fledgling businesses and highly skilled workers to sustain the advanced manufacturing industry, according to the report.
“(The report) demonstrates that there is a terrific future in Michigan for high-paying jobs in advanced manufacturing,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “Manufacturing has changed and will continue to change. But here’s the critical part: Manufacturing is still vitally important. It hasn’t disappeared.”
The three universities make up the University Research Corridor, or URC, which spent more than $1.4 billion on research and development in 2007, about 94 percent of research and development expenditures from Michigan universities, according to its 2009 Annual Economic Impact Report.
The URC commissioned the advanced manufacturing study, which was prepared by East Lansing-based research organization Anderson Economic Group. The report was the third in an annual series that highlights the role the URC has played in advancing various industries.
The URC represents hope for Michigan’s economy, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman said.
“The future of manufacturing can be found here, the last space for science turned into discovery and discovery turned into commercial technology, creating new companies and job growth,” Coleman said.
The report was released as part of a three-site media tour that stopped at each school Wednesday.
The URC has done and will continue to do important research work in the state, Wayne State President Jay Noren said.
“The combination of these three universities is unmatched nationally,” Noren said. “I have been places where there is a lot of power … and the collaboration is nothing like the URC has created. It’s very powerful.”
Although MSU has had many private successes in the world of advanced manufacturing — primarily through the colleges of engineering, natural sciences, agriculture and medicine — it is the collaboration between the three universities that makes Michigan stand out from other states, Simon said.
“What is important are the connections,” Simon said. “We feel like we are very well-positioned at (MSU) to take advantage of those connections.”
A group of officials from all three universities, reporters and representatives from companies interested in business or economic development toured the Cyclotron Wednesday, in conjunction with the release of the report.
The research done at the laboratory not only has led to a variety of products from smoke detectors to medicine, but also employs more than 400 workers, said Zachary Constan, outreach coordinator for the Cyclotron during a pre-tour presentation.
The Cyclotron also is the future site of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, a $550 million project funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. Construction in the FRIB is expected to begin around 2012.
“When (the FRIB) is done, before the end of the decade, we should be the No. 1 rare isotope research laboratory in the world,” Constan said.
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