University Center Economic Development Program: Bringing Research to Work
- U.S. Department of Commerce Announces $2.5 Million in Investments to Strengthen Innovation and Economic Growth Initiatives: Colleges and Universities in 13 States Awarded Funding Through Economic Development Competition
- Check out the project descriptions for our 2018 EDA University Center competition grantees
EDA's University Center Economic Development Program makes the resources of universities available to the economic development community.
Institutions of higher education have extensive resources, including specialized research, outreach, technology transfer, and commercialization capabilities, as well as recognized faculty expertise and sophisticated laboratories. The EDA-supported University Center (UC) program is specifically designed to marshal the resources located within colleges and universities to support regional economic development strategies in regions of chronic and acute economic distress. The UCs, which EDA considers long-term partners in economic development, are required to devote the majority of their funding to respond to technical assistance requests originating from organizations located in the economically distressed portions of their service regions.
The UCs have a long history of promoting and facilitating economic development in their service regions. They have been among the first to recognize emerging technical assistance needs. As early as FY 1980, EDA-funded UCs were among the first to recognize and respond to the needs of small- and medium-sized manufacturers and processors for technology transfer and commercialization assistance.
Most UCs focus their efforts on assisting units of local governments and nonprofit organizations in planning and implementing regional economic development strategies and projects. Typical actions provided by the UCs include targeted commercialization of research, workforce development, and business counseling services. Other UCs may focus their efforts on helping local organizations with conducting preliminary feasibility studies, analyzing data, and convening customized seminars and workshops on topics such as regional strategic planning and capital budgeting.
University Centers
Related Associations
Resources
Report: Making Connections, Evaluation Project to Assess Best Practices in EDA’s University Center Program (PDF)
Current University Centers
- Auburn University (PDF)
- Becker University (PDF)
- Boise State University (PDF)
- Bowling Green State University-Ohio University (PDF)
- California State University (PDF)
- Cleveland State University (PDF)
- Fayetteville State University (PDF)
- Gatton College of Business and Economics - Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship (PDF)
- Georgia Tech (PDF)
- Iowa State University of Science and Technology (PDF)
- Kansas State (PDF)
- Marshall University (PDF)
- Michigan State University (PDF)
- Michigan State University - Regional Economic Innovation Center (REI) (PDF)
- Mississippi State University (PDF)
- Montana State University (PDF)
- Northern Arizona University (PDF)
- Penn State (PDF)
- Purdue University (PDF)
- Rutgers University (PDF)
- South Dakota State University (PDF)
- Tech Help - Idaho Manufacturing Specialists (PDF)
- Tennessee Center for Rural Innovation (TCRI) (PDF)
- Texas A&M;, Corpus Christi (PDF)
- University of Alaska (PDF)
- University of Arkansas, Little Rock (PDF)
- University of Connecticut (PDF)
- University of Florida (PDF)
- University of Hawaii (PDF)
- University of Illinois (PDF)
- University of Kansas (PDF)
- University of Kentucky (PDF)
- University of Maryland (PDF)
- University of Michigan-Flint (PDF)
- University of Minnesota (PDF)
- University of Missouri (PDF)
- University of Nevada, Reno (PDF)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PDF)
- University of North Dakota (PDF)
- University of Oregon (PDF)
- University of Puerto Rico (PDF)
- University of South Carolina (PDF)
- University of Southern Maine (PDF)
- University of Tennessee (PDF)
- Virginia Tech (PDF)
- Washington State University (PDF)
- West Texas A&M; University (PDF)
- Western Carolina University (PDF)
Archived University Centers
- Arkansas State University (PDF)
- Creighton University (PDF)
- Delaware State University (PDF)
- Duquesne University (PDF)
- Lamar University (PDF)
- LA Tech (PDF)
- Northeastern University (PDF)
- Northern New Mexico College (PDF)
- Rogers State University (PDF)
- Southwest Oklahoma State University (PDF)
- Syracuse University (PDF)
- Temple University (PDF)
- University of New Orleans (PDF)
- University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (PDF)
- University of Wyoming (PDF)