Michigan's prosperity will come from reinvention

Prosperity in our state is still years away, according to The Economist and a whole lot of other people, but, still, the signs point toward prosperity.

Excerpt:

Universities, too, are preparing to play a bigger role in the state's economy. The top-notch University of Michigan, a mere 40-minute drive from Detroit, is filled with cheerful cafés and big brains. The three-year-old University Research Corridor is a collaboration between Michigan's three main universities. "I describe it as the university becoming much more porous", explains Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan. She hopes to improve ties with businesses and ease the commercialisation of academic research. Just as energetic is the attempt to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs. (For 100 years, Michigan coasted on the success of that hyperactive entrepreneur, Henry Ford.) The University of Michigan has a two-year-old Centre for Entrepreneurship, providing classes and other support to students with business ideas. In Detroit, Wayne State University's TechTown is a research park as well as an incubator for new companies. TechTown hopes to help create 1,200 start-ups by 2012.

Read the entire article here.