Arizona State University office hopes to boost role in state’s economy

Arizona State University hopes to broaden its impact on the state’s economy and business community with the establishment of a new Office of Economic Affairs.

Hal Mattern
The Arizona Republic

The office will serve as an umbrella under which ASU’s economic-development and research activities will be coordinated.

"We are looking for new ways of being players in the economic well-being of the community," said Rob Melnick, associate vice president and head of the new office. "We are going to be more aggressive about becoming even more involved. Not that we haven’t been involved before, but this will be in a more coordinated, coherent way."

Melnick also will continue his duties as director of ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy.

The creation of the new office was prompted by ASU President Michael Crow’s push to make the university’s research programs more a part of its overall economic-development efforts.

When Crow took over as president last year, he moved the economic-development office into the research office to form Research and Economic Affairs.

"That reflected his idea that research does have a potential role in shaping the economic development of the region," said Jonathan Fink, ASU’s vice president for Research and Economic Affairs, which includes the new Office of Economic Affairs.

Melnick said that ASU contributes to the economy directly by employing 16,000 workers and has an annual payroll of $500 million. When economic multipliers are considered, the university indirectly stimulates the creation of 30,000 jobs and $1 billion in earnings, he said.

ASU also produces a variety of economic studies and reports, weighs in on public policy issues and offers entrepreneurship training and corporate leadership programs.

The university also has launched Arizona Technology Enterprises to take ASU technology ventures to the market more quickly, and soon will unveil ASU Technopolis to provide training, mentoring and networking services to science and technology businesses.

Melnick said the new office will bring all of those programs and services, which he calls "assets," under the same umbrella to better coordinate them and make people aware that they exist.

"We’re going to look across the university at all of the assets that have proven to contribute to the economic development of the community and connect the dots," he said.

Fink said the office will link community members with research at ASU and will make it easier for campus groups to track what is going on.