Penley Panel

Partnerships help build a vibrant, sustainable economy. When I spoke to 300 business and community leaders recently at the CSU Regional Economic Summit and Forecast, I discussed how Northern Colorado's regional job growth outpaced the state and national economies in part because of strong public-private partnerships that involve Colorado State University.

New jobs created from research innovations and college graduates armed with newly honed skills drive an economy. And we can anticipate that higher education will continue to play a critical, collaborative role in the state’s economic prosperity.

This month’s Competitive Edge explores how public-private partnerships are increasingly important for regional economic development. Organizations such as the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp. play a critical role as clearinghouses for collaboration among communities.

Communities that naturally compete for job growth and business relocation are now interdependent – people work in one town and live in another, for example, and share common problems such as transportation. A university can help address those issues while also serving as a magnet for high-quality industry and jobs regionwide.

Our feature story highlights a win-win partnership between CSU and the city of Fort Collins. But the benefits of collaboration are not limited to local economic development. The Edge also traces how other CSU partnerships will benefit the state, the nation, and the world – environmentally friendly partnerships with Anheuser-Busch, vaccine-development partnerships within CSU’s new regional biocontainment lab, and ecosystem-saving partnerships in the Arctic.

The relationship between university and community may be one of the best means to realize how collaboration can benefit the largest number of people.

Thank you for joining us.

Larry Edward Penley
Chancellor and President