In 2011, two business school professors put numbers to an idea that many assumed true: that a vibrant research university can drive an economy. They studied companies started by alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and found that those businesses had provided 1.7 million jobs and generated $1 trillion in revenue annually.
As more countries try to compete in the global economy, the pressure is on policy makers and university leaders to imitate the way MIT spurs innovation and economic growth. Unfortunately, many universities struggle to match the speed and success of MIT’s model.
