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THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA has an enormous economic impact on our state and its well-being. A talent magnet and a center of innovation, the University develops and delivers breakthrough solutions in engineering, agriculture, transportation, information technology, medicine, public health, and many other fields. It also enriches Minnesota's cultural, artistic, and educational environment, making the state a highly attractive place in which to live and work.
THE IT 1000 AND BEYOND
The creation of new companies is a vital component of Minnesota's economic growth and future prosperity. During the early 1990s the Institute of Technology (IT) set out to determine how many active companies had been founded by our alumni. The goal of this project was to show that investment in IT—whether through state funding or private contributions—yields a tremendous return.
The findings were impressive: More than 1,000 companies in business at the time (in some cases under a different name or ownership) could trace their roots to IT. Published in 1993 as IT 1000, the survey found that these companies collectively employed more than 150,000 people and generated annual sales in excess of $20.3 billion.
In the dozen years since that report was published, the corporate landscape has changed dramatically. The rise of the Internet and rapid advancements in information technology fueled an explosion of entrepreneurial activity in the late 1990s. And the dawn of the 21st century heralded a wave of new ventures at the intersection of biology, information technology, and engineering. Clearly the time was ripe to take another look at our alumni and their accomplishments.
IT FOUNDERS 2005
Last fall, with generous support from the Mr. and Mrs. George W. Taylor Foundation, IT surveyed nearly 48,000 alumni and received more than 15,000 responses.
Broader in scope and more detailed in its analysis than the 1990s poll, the 2004 survey confirmed that the entrepreneurial spirit is thriving among IT alumni:
- 3,024 respondents—a fifth of the total—reported founding one or more companies.
- Approximately 4,150 of the companies created by IT grads remain active today. Many of these companies are mature: Forty percent have been in business more than 10 years; another 25 percent have been in business between five and 10 years; a third have been in business less than five years.
- Nearly two-thirds of the active companies founded by IT alumni are located in Minnesota:
53.1 percent in the Twin Cities metro area and 8.6 percent in Greater Minnesota.
- These Minnesota companies (roughly 2,600) employ more than 175,000 people and generate approximately $46 billion in annual revenue.
- The active companies located outside Minnesota (about 1,500) employ nearly 376,000 people and generate approximately $44 billion in annual revenue.
The economic development represented by these statistics stems in part from research and development conducted in IT, but the numbers also underscore the economic impact of un- dergraduate and graduate education. Through its faculty and the entrepreneurs it has trained, IT is a dynamic force for economic growth.
IT founded companies encompass the full range of entrepreneurial activity across industrial sectors. They conduct cutting-edge research across many disciplines, offer a wide range of consulting and professional services, manufacture items that touch almost every aspect of our daily lives, and engage in e-commerce as well as wholesale and retail trade.
In many cases, IT alumni who founded their own companies gained experience early in their careers at companies founded by other IT alumni. (Control Data and Medtronic alone served as the training ground for the founders of more than three dozen companies founded by IT graduates.) Excellence begets excellence.
IT Founders 2005 illustrates the varied paths our alumni have taken. Their success—and its ensuing benefits for our state—are a tribute to IT, its faculty, alumni, friends, and supporters. In publishing this book, we honor them and recognize their achievements.
To learn more about IT Founders 2005 and to download the complete publication, please visit www.it.umn.edu.
