Related Link: ARTI up and running in Bloomington
Related Link: ARTI home page
Related Link: ARTI up and running in Bloomington
In 1930 a special ceremony was held within 100 yards of my office. A plaque indicated that this very spot was the center of the United States' population. The plaque is still there; but the population center has changed‹along with almost everything else.
Today, change is the constant, and people and their institutions must adapt, including universities; maybe especially universities.
Look at the trends: the global economy is expanding; everyone needs to be more efficient and productive; the information and technological revolution is exploding; public higher education will likely get less state and federal support; different sources of revenue will be necessary; and public-private partnerships are increasing.
Into this mix comes the IU Advanced Research and Technology Institute (ARTI): a solution for a need; a tool for change; a pathway to partnerships.
ARTI is a separate, not-for-profit organization. Its sole function, however, is to help Indiana University, similar to the relationship IU has with the IU Foundation. Our role is three-fold: 1) Foster individual partnerships between IU researchers and the private sector; 2) enhance revenue to the researchers and the university through the transfer of research discoveries and other information to the private sector; 3) facilitate a cooperative and profitable interaction between the university and corporate entities throughout Indiana and the nation.
Key ARTI operations include: Tech Transfer, Corporate Relations, the Industrial Relations Liaison Program, the IU Research Park, and Licensing and Trademarks. But ARTI is more than the sum of its parts. In short, ARTI will become the go-between organization for the private sector and the academic community. Each seems to have difficulty in approaching the other. Our job will be to facilitate and strengthen communications and relationships between the two, resulting in partnerships beneficial to all concerned.
ARTI is a product of the Strategic Directions Charter and is an excellent example of IU reaching out more to the state and the nation as part of America's New Public University. It will be overseen by a 17-member board of directors that includes four faculty members. We will work closely with Vice President George Walker and key members of the Research and University Graduate School staff. This teamwork will provide us the best of both worlds: complementary missions and greater flexibility.
Finally, ARTI is for all IU campuses and for all members of the academic community. Faculty in the humanities, for instance, often have more information of value to the private sector than they realize.
It's a new day and a new era. Members of the IU community will find ARTI a new tool to help them as we all deal with challenging and everlasting change.
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