With a nationwide unemployment rate nearing the double digits, university researchers have created an analytical map to help connect workers with technology-based job opportunities.
The school of architecture recently received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which will help allow researchers to create this interactive computer model that maps inventors across the state and connects them to potential manufacturers and agencies. Beforehand, many inventions were flying under the radar because manufacturers didn’t know they existed — and project co-principal investigator Scott Dempwolf said he hopes this 3-D analytical tool will change that.
“What this tool does is allow economic developers to explore how companies and people at universities are connected by different inventions and technologies by the place where they’re located,” Dempwolf said. “And that’s really useful in figuring out how to best support innovation.”
The new tool — which Dempwolf said he hasn’t started working on yet — will be developed in stages over the next five years and will likely feature more than twice the relationships than the first map he created.
Using a series of several counties’ data, Dempwolf said the circular models on the map — featuring colored balls representing participants and lines to show relationships — organize the influence of research centers and manufacturing companies; the more important players will be easy to recognize because they will be located closer to the map’s center, Dempwolf said.
By helping economic developers see potential relationships between inventors and companies, Dempwolf said the tool will foster connections that bring promising inventions to life and help create jobs.
“It takes a lot of different players to invent, finance, manufacture and market new products,” Dempwolf said. “We don’t picture what those relationships look like, so this grant allows us to take this methodology and develop these models for Maryland.”
Additionally, Dempwolf said the map tracks inventions that university researchers create.
“One part is connecting our faculty, students and all the ideas and technologies generated here and connecting them to businesses and other entities throughout the state,” Dempwolf said.
Architecture school Dean David Cronrath said the tool will help use the university’s intellectual capital to advance the state’s economic vitality — one of the four university initiatives outlined by university President Wallace Loh.
“What this project is going to do is bring some innovative mapping techniques so data can be displayed in a new manner that will help identify opportunities for businesses in Maryland,” he said. “It will help university research better serve the community.”
Brian Darmody, university associate vice president for research and economic development, said the tool will help put the university at the forefront of job creation.
“As we look for ways to create more jobs in the state, this is a tool that many other regions of the nation will eventually develop as well, but the University of Maryland will be in the leadership role,” he said.
In addition to helping create jobs and business projects throughout the state, Dempwolf said the tool will directly benefit the university, helping researchers map where innovation has been and where it’s going.
“I think where the university ends up in the model to begin with is less important than what we do with the information once we have it,” Dempwolf said. “It provides a baseline for where we are and where we want to go.”
saravia@umdbk.com
