Today is the first of two day-long sessions at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island. Much of this year’s agenda focuses on the connection between public education and the health of Michigan’s economy.
Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon plays a noticeable role in this year’s gathering. She’s leading a key panel discussion today on the importance of corporate investment in education and efforts to close Michigan’s much publicized “skills gap.”
She’s also part of a group that will unveil an important annual report. It’s a study that benchmarks the economic impact of Michigan’s University Research Corridor -- that’s MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. It aims to compare that impact against other similar regions of the country. This year, it focuses on the URC’s role in stimulating entrepreneurship. The study’s conducted by East Lansing’s Anderson Economic Group.
President Simon joined Current State to talk about the background of the annual URC report.
