Near the start of October, Wichita State University was awarded a grant of $7.1 million from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The money was given specifically to WSU Ventures, a group that plans to use the funds to support Innovation Campus initiatives. The grant will be used to ultimately generate defense-related jobs and foster progress in defense-related technologies. In Wichita, that includes jobs and technologies in aviation. The grant has a two-year duration, and WSU has three years to consume the funds.

There are five main ways that WSU Ventures will appropriate the money.  One of which is in robotics manufacturing.

“…we have that capability already, but we’re looking at expanding [robotics manufacturing] in the new experiential engineering building,” Cindy Claycomb, Director of WSU Ventures, said.

A second focus will be technology that has to do with lightning strikes on airplanes.  A new lab for that technology is being created at Air Capital Flight Lines – the old Boeing site.

A third part will be the creation of a technology and commercialization feasibility group.

“This group will employ students who will – under the guidance of a faculty member and other staff members – help us look at the technologies that come particularly out of the university, but also some that come from the community, and actually do a deep dive into those technologies to see if there’s some potential for that technology to be patented, licensed or commercialized in some way,” Claycomb said.

The fourth part will involve doing an inventory of supply chain. This means identifying companies in the Kansas region that have a manufacturing supply chain, and furthermore seeing where the materials they use come from (who the suppliers are). This helps WSU Ventures understand the infrastructure behind the use of supplies related to their initiatives.

The fifth part will be creating a community maker space.

“A maker space is like a gym for innovators… It gives us a platform for innovative ideas to be tried, tested, developed – and if it’s a working idea, to take it to market,” Debra Franklin, Director of University Strategic Initiatives at WSU Ventures, said. The maker space will be located in a wing off of the experiential engineering building, which is currently being built as a part of Innovation Campus. It will feature machines and technology that allows students and community members to manufacture their ideas. People will be able to get a maker space membership and can learn to operate the machinery in order to make their inventions and products.

The process of starting work on these five areas is already under way. Some of the first steps in doing so include finding staffing, procuring equipment, and doing program metrics (which means measuring the outcomes that are expected from the programs being started).

Senior Craig Brownlee sees the importance of the recent grant, but wonders about the motivation and goals for WSU’s growth.

“I think that the university is trying to maybe increase their importance to the economy in Kansas and become … a driver of economy,” Brownlee said. “That would add security to its existence, and it would maybe increase its importance.”

Brownlee added that the goal in mind is to have an entity that’s concerned about increasing WSU’s involvement in the economy itself. He says he see that happening in NIAR and in Innovation Campus.

“There’s kind of a continuation of that same idea in my mind that bringing industry into the university – it helps the university, it helps the students,” he said.

 Overall, the program helps the economy and adds security to the university’s role in Kansas, says Brownlee.

“But why does the university need… an entity that’s job is to increase its activity in the economy? What is the main role of the university? Is it education? Is it economic driving? Is it just to grow?” Brownlee asked.