UK has a vision for economic prosperity in Kentucky. Here’s how we’re achieving it. | Opinion

Imagine a Kentucky with a trained workforce ready to meet the demands of the next 20 years, that empowers high-tech startup companies to become the next global brand, that is the first choice for headquarters relocations, and where disadvantaged business enterprises have the same opportunities and financial success as other established companies.

This is the vision of Kentucky targeted by the University of Kentucky’s Economic Development Collaborative (EDC). The EDC is a decentralized work group made up of UK academic and administrative leaders working alongside external stakeholders to coordinate efforts for growing economic prosperity in the Commonwealth.

In the annual “State of EDC” presentation held in December, EDC leaders celebrated their 2022 economic development accomplishments:

Talent:

▪ A record first-year class of 6,120 students this fall pushing overall enrollment to a historic high of nearly 33,000 students.

▪ A six-year graduation rate of nearly 69% — also a record — and more than 10 percentage points higher than a decade ago.

▪ A more diverse UK community than ever with students of color now representing more than 16% of the student body.

▪ A first-year class with nearly 25% first-generation students, providing opportunities to change the economic trajectory of their families for generations to come.

▪ A new “Where our graduates go” dashboard showing where UK graduates launch their careers, including the state they live in, the companies they work for, their titles and salary ranges.

Innovation:

▪ The Office of Technology Commercialization received 90 invention disclosures, filed 143 patent applications, had 32 new patents issued, and launched four new startup companies.

▪ Fiscal year 2022 research grant and contract awards totaled $453 million.

▪ A new Scholars@UK web portal highlights UK research activity and allows interested parties from around the world and across different sectors of industry to find specific expertise and connect with UK researchers.

Place:

▪ Construction started for the adaptive reuse of a former Reynolds warehouse building on South Broadway to be the new home of the College of Design — the Gray Design Building.

▪ The Coldstream Research Campus opened new laboratory and regional office spaces and a 260-unit apartment complex creating a live, work, play, and innovation environment.

▪ The Community Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky continued to work with communities affected by recent extreme weather events, including facilitating the long-term recovery plan for Appalachian Kentucky affected by floods.

▪ To improve access to health care, UK HealthCare acquired King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland leading to growth of physician employment in the region and a net increase of over 1,000 employees in the past two fiscal years.

Partnership:

▪ Began aggregating siloed data into dashboards to determine the business engagement activity that thousands of companies have with the university.

▪ Launched UK Invests, a partnership with Fidelity Investments, that is a first-of-its-kind initiative to help students deepen their understanding of financial wellness and receive monetary rewards.

Equitable Economic Development:

▪ Received several awards for UK Purchasing’s work in supplier diversity including the Impact of the Year Award from the Tristate Minority Supplier Development Council.

▪ Added 892 new diverse vendors to the university’s Purchasing database.

▪ Graduated the first cohort of the Construction Diversity Accelerator to prepare disadvantaged business enterprises to be subcontractors on major construction projects at UK.

Kentucky is full of exceptional, creative, and industrious citizens, innovative businesses, and outstanding universities. When you imagine a Kentucky where academia, government, and business sectors collaborate with one another, know that this work is already bearing fruit throughout the commonwealth.

George Ward is UK’s Associate VP for Economic Development and Real Estate and is the chair of UK’s Economic Development Collaborative.