When people hear the word “infrastructure,” they usually think of things like roads, bridges, or water pipelines. But parks, schools, research institutions, and the resources that support innovation are also infrastructure. Laboratories, office space, and equipment can help researchers and entrepreneurs transform ideas into products and services.
As transportation needs evolve, we invest in roads and bridges. Michigan’s innovation infrastructure needs the same attention and investment.
When people discuss what high-tech, high-growth startups need to succeed, the conversation often centers on capital. Michigan ranks third in the nation for venture capitalists investing into their own state’s startups, and earlier this year, the MSU Research Foundation’s venture funds were also recognized as the state’s most active in-state startup investor. That focus has been important, but funding alone doesn’t commercialize research, build products, or create jobs.
As Michigan continues expanding its venture capital resources, we must place equal emphasis on the innovation infrastructure that helps startups turn investment into impact. Infrastructure is what turns founders’ ideas into something real. Into jobs and manufacturing and shipping and services and economic opportunity throughout our communities.
For some companies, that starts with affordable research space.
Consider Great Lakes Crystal Technologies, a Michigan State University spinoff that grows diamonds in its laboratory for use in the advanced electronics and quantum computing industries. In its infancy, the company leveraged a shared research space at the VanCamp Incubator. Without that infrastructure, valuable capital would have been spent on facilities and equipment rather than hiring talent and growing the business. Without infrastructure, capital is inefficient, talent is underutilized, and momentum stalls.
Different startups require different types of infrastructure. Biotech companies need wet labs. Hardware startups need specialized manufacturing and testing facilities. Software companies benefit from collaborative workspaces.
Michigan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has made tremendous strides in expanding access to capital. The next challenge is ensuring founders have access to the spaces, equipment, and support systems that help move them from idea to execution.
Across the Lansing region, universities, economic development organizations, incubators, investors, and community partners are building that foundation. Organizations like ours are creating entrepreneurial hubs, including the new Rosenberg Center, that connect startups with facilities, capital, and community. Our VanCamp Incubator in East Lansing, Alliance Incubator in Lansing, and the Technology Innovation Center (TIC) near Michigan State University provide entrepreneurs with specialized spaces and resources that reduce friction, accelerate time-to-market, and improve the odds of success.
Yet demand is already testing capacity.
We’ve invested more than $500,000 in shared equipment resources to help life science startups access tools they otherwise couldn’t afford. Our incubator spaces maintain an average 90% occupancy rate and support 58 startup and research-driven tenant companies. Our startup jobs board launched just one year ago and is now used by nearly 200 companies, with more than 100 openings listed at any given time, spanning roles from entry-level positions to executive leadership. These are signs of a growing innovation economy, and growing demand for the infrastructure that supports it.
But one new facility, or even a handful of facilities, won’t be enough. If greater Lansing is going to compete with leading innovation regions, we must continue expanding the infrastructure that helps startups launch, grow, and stay in Michigan.
The region currently offers more than 300,000 square feet of innovation space, but that capacity is already being tested. Our planning efforts indicate demand is likely to outpace supply in the years ahead. As research activity and entrepreneurial growth continue to accelerate, additional facilities and shared resources will be needed to sustain that momentum.
Just as we invest in roads, bridges, parks, and schools, we must invest in our innovation infrastructure.
For Michigan to become a Top 10 state for innovation and create more breakthrough technologies, high-quality jobs, and startup success stories, we need to broaden our definition of infrastructure and expand our conversations beyond funding.
Capital will always play an important role in entrepreneurship, but innovation infrastructure is what helps it survive, grow, and thrive.
Jeff Smith is director of Research Parks for the MSU Research Foundation, where he leads initiatives that advance research commercialization, innovation infrastructure, and technology-based economic development. He works with university, industry, and community partners to support the growth of emerging companies and strengthen innovation ecosystems. Smith is the incoming President of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Advisory Board for Redevelopment Ready Communities, and was a State of Michigan delegate to the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP).
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Why founders need infrastructure, not just investment: Viewpoint
Reporting by Jeff Smith, For the Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Smith, For the Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
