Building an innovation economy to retain talent, expand business growth and boost the WV economy

On the heels of the major gift announcements by Marshall University and West Virginia University to support their business schools, the deans of both colleges joined the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative’s 2018 Legislators’ Forum to discuss their goals to help move West Virginia forward by keeping talent in West Virginia while driving statewide business growth.

“We cannot be prosperous without excellent education and without a cultural shift toward a focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and being able to attract the best businesses to either stay in the state if they’re already here and grow or attract new businesses from around the world,” said WVU Provost Joyce McConnell, who moderated the panel.

WVU’s Dean of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, Javier Reyes, and Marshall’s Dean of the Lewis College of Business, Avinandan Mukherjee, carried the same tune as they shared their vision on expanding an innovation economy across West Virginia. 
“It’s not about Marshall, it’s not about WVU; it’s about West Virginia,” Mukherjee said.

Reyes added, “When you live in this state, everyone makes it clear that it’s all about West Virginia. Every door you try to open, opens. “We have the opportunity to think completely outside the box,” Reyes said. “We now have permission to do so, in a way. Now there is a seal of approval on the visions that have been put together by Marshall University and by WVU, in conjunction with the West Virginia Forward initiative. We have the plan. We have the will, and I think we now have the means.”

 
Both agreed that WV Forward’s shared blueprint has helped open more doors to greater opportunities.

For instance, they recognized that with WV Forward’s blueprint in hand, the state now has a path forward and can follow a roadmap to help guide West Virginians toward more business growth, more startups, more innovative ways to solve problems and more statewide alignment.

“Now that we are rowing in the same direction, we need to focus efforts on expanding West Virginia’s innovation network,” said Mukherjee. “As we infuse entrepreneurship and innovation inside and outside the classroom, in all regions of the state, we can’t be afraid to think differently. We can’t be afraid to fail. And we can’t be afraid to collaborate and work together.”

The deans concurred that as West Virginia (re)defines entrepreneurship and innovation, the ingredients to success include problem solving, embracing challenges as opportunities, being willing to take risks, thinking creatively and encouraging experiential learning.

 
“Learning by doing is how we will see real progress,” Reyes said. “It’s risk innovation. By taking calculated risks, we can invest in the ‘right’ risks and, ultimately, find the success and growth we want.”

And while they sport different colors, live in opposite corners of the state and have their unprecedented school gifts from two of the largest and most recognized tech companies in the world – Intuit and Cisco Systems – they do share more than one common thread. Reyes and Mukherjee opened and closed the discussion by saying that friendship, partnership and the eagerness to build on WV Forward’s blueprint remain the most palpable unifiers to help move WV Forward.