Clough

Georgia Tech contributes $3.9 billion and more than 44,000 jobs to the state economy each year, but those numbers could be substantially higher if the Institute were granted more flexibility in its financial and operational structure, according to a newly released economic impact report.

The 68-page document makes a case for restructuring Georgia Tech's relationship to the state and allowing the Institute, in effect, to exercise a measure of the operational and decision-making discretion of its private university peers while adhering to strict guidelines for responsibility and accountability.

"This study shows the dramatic impact Georgia Tech has on the state's economy and highlights the importance innovation will have in the economy of the future," said President Wayne Clough, who released the report at an April 6 press conference at the Global Learning Center at Technology Square.

"It also sends a message that if we are to be successful in the future, the way we do business needs to allow for greater flexibility, agility and responsiveness. The present policies under which Georgia Tech and its sister public research universities operate should be reassessed, working with the University System of Georgia and the state to bring them into alignment with the demands of the 21st century," Clough said.

The document, titled "Strategic Economic Development: A Plan for the Georgia Institute of Technology," noted that public research universities, Georgia Tech in particular, are key sources of the innovation that drive economic competitiveness in regional, national and global marketplaces. As the world's economies come closer together and as the pace of technology accelerates, the value of research universities' contributions becomes a decisive factor in economic viability, the study noted.

"Treating public research universities as traditional state agencies diminishes their ability to compete effectively and contribute to economic growth," the report noted.

Increased operational flexibility along similar lines would allow Tech to seize opportunities much more quickly and efficiently, the report stated, and also target resources to research areas with the most potential.

While acknowledging that a proper balance must be struck between increased flexibility and accountability to Georgia's constituents, the study called for an increase in the state's investment in its major research universities not only in dollars, but by revising policies that handcuff the Institute's ability to raise and invest money, construct new buildings and facilities, acquire new equipment, operate research and development programs and create technology-transfer organizations in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

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