Ramifications of operating a Business & Industry Development Center as an auxiliary enterprise

Abstract

GMI, formerly the General Motors Institute, estabilished a Business and Industry Development (BID) Center in 1983 for the purpose of promoting economic development in Michigan's Flint/Genessee County. BID has had its ups and downs, and is now a going operation. Its experience shows that academic resources can be used to promote regional development. BID has provided an alternative for innovative faculty who are not comfortable with the traditional academic research culture. It is part of a system of business and technical resources, an incubation environment, and available venture capital. For the BID system to work efficiently, however, legislation is needed that would exclude academic institutions from tax liability on income from utilization of their resources and staffs in assisting spinoff and startup companies in developing within their contituencies and communities.