URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2021_Melissa-McCarthy

FROM INNOVATION TO Economic Development RI INNOVATION CAMPUSES SHOW THE WAY

written by TODD MCLEISH

Entrepreneurs, inventors and others seeking to transform cutting-edge research into commercial products and services in Rhode Island often run into stumbling blocks when trying to establish new businesses and create jobs in the state. But a new series of innovation campuses — all in partnership with the University of Rhode Island (URI) and the URI Research Foundation (URIRF) — are now in the works to bridge the gaps in the process. “An innovation campus, in our case, is a place proposed by a consortium of private companies and public players to partner and focus on creating companies and jobs using entrepreneurship and innovation in a targeted industry segment or cluster,” explains Peter Rumsey, chief business development officer at URIRF.

Rumsey is helping with a team that includes Katharine Flynn, executive director of URI’s Business Engagement Center, to oversee the development of the campuses. Educated as an electrical engineer at Cornell University, Rumsey served in the Air Force during Desert Storm, and then worked for more than 25 years in high-tech startups

largely focused on power systems, renewables (including lithium-ion batteries and solar), LED lighting and battery testing. For the last four years Rumsey worked for the Rhode Island Governor and commerce secretary in cooperation with URI in creating these innovation campuses.

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