Concord University Takes Steps Supporting Innovation

One of our biggest opportunities in West Virginia to spread creativity and innovation is through our colleges and universities. It's not an accident that most highly-rated "creative class" cities in the small-to-mid size population category are college towns. College towns attract the critical student and faculty talent required to generate innovation. For many of our rural counties, the local college is the best pipeline into the much-needed intellectual and innovative growth required in the Conceptual Age.

In the past, many have seen the role of colleges and universities as "workforce development." In other words, preparing students to go work for big organizations who had a job waiting for them.

In the Conceptual Age, it is critical that our students are prepared to think holistically and creatively. We need more of them, regardless of major, to think like entrepreneurs. So it's important that the mindset of many higher education leaders change to meet these new challenges.

It is also critical that our colleges and universities see themselves as agents of change in the communities and regions in which they reside. They can and should play a monumental role in helping surrounding communities become more creative and entrepreneurial. Whether it's through expansion of creative arts and cultural offerings, entrepreneurship training and mentoring, or augmenting a local school district's ability to teach science and math, we need strong, outwardly focused institutions of higher learning.

I was pleased to read about Concord University's investment in a high-tech new building, the Rahall Technology Center. The Center includes a Small Business Development Center, twenty-four hour PC labs, wireless Internet access, and a lot more. Jim Cannon, Concord's VP of Finance and Administration stated, "Higher education plays a big role in business and economic development these days, and [we] hope Concord’s new technology facility will help the small public institution play its part."

What are your hopes and ideas for our colleges and universities and their role in building Creative Communities in West Virginia? Please post your thoughts, we'd love to hear about them.