ORONO – As the state of Maine struggles to replace its withering manufacturing-based economy and stem the flow of young people to out-of-state jobs, UMaine interim President Robert A. Kennedy emphasizes the importance of the university as an economic engine driving job creation and spawning economic research to help lead the state through troubling times.

“The University of Maine is very much a part of the economic engine and economic vitality and economic future of the state,” Kennedy said.

“Two thousand faculty and staff help the university meet the responsibilities for outreach and research.”

Kennedy delivered his comments to about 80 business leaders, economic developers and state and regional policy-makers at a business and economic climate conference sponsored this fall by the UMaine Department of Resource Economics and Policy.

Kennedy cites the recent creation of six new companies that grew from university research projects, specifically four that resulted from student research.

The university’s contributions, though, are “more than the figures,” Kennedy said. “It’s much more than the multipliers. It’s about the students.”

Students at UMaine have opportunities to engage in both scholarship and research, he said. “So many of our students are working side by side with our faculty.”

And faculty research benefits policy-makers and others. For instance, the Department of Resource Economics and Policy has in the last few years published evaluations of economic influences ranging from clean water in Maine to the emerging biotechnology industry and, more recently, the Palesky tax cap referendum.

The daylong event held at the Lucerne Inn in Holden was the first conference sponsored by the department on Maine’s business and economic climate. Speakers and discussion panelists outlined strategies to help business and industry make the most of a sagging economy.

Next year’s conference already is being planned.

“We are going to do another one next year,” said Kevin Boyle, chair of the Department of Resource Economics and Policy. “Our plan from the beginning was to make this an annual event, and plenty of people came up to me and said this is great and should have been done before.”

Boyle said that in addition to being educational for participants, the conference allowed the university and Resource Economic Department to share its expertise with the business community.

“I think we have a good department that is known outside of Maine but not necessarily in Maine,” he said. “I think we have important research going on and I wanted to make people more aware of it.”

Co-organizers James McConnon, an REP associate professor and small business specialist with UMaine Cooperative Extension, and Todd Gabe, assistant professor in resource economics and policy, wanted to hear first-hand from the conference audience that economics issues are important to them. That will help steer future UMaine economic research.

The survey also will help develop a theme for next year’s conference, Gabe said.

In his keynote address, speaker Mark Drabenstott, vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and director of its Center for the Study of Rural America, cited examples of rural communities in the Midwest and plains states identifying and developing business niches and creating economic partnerships to promote them.

Drabenstott suggested that Maine can do more with its wildlife recreation industry, which contributes $759 million annually to the Maine economy.

With nearly half of that coming from wildlife watchers, Drabenstott quipped, “Those Audubon people are quiet, but they spend money.”

Andy Shepard, president of the Maine Winter Sports Center in northern Maine, owners of six community-based ski areas around the state, was one of the business owners in the audience pleased to hear about research possibilities in tourism and nature-based industries.

“Looking at tourism is a very positive step and it’s very critical that the university try to figure out what the issues are and how to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves,” he said.

Other conference speakers included Daniel Innis, dean of the UMaine College of Business, Public Policy and Health, who cited the success of West Virginia, a rural state with economic challenges like Maine’s but which developed a successful business niche in the automobile industry.

Innis also believes Maine must do a better job of boosting young people’s aspirations and create the type of economies that will keep them in the state.

Gabe and Boyle discussed research findings – Boyle on the subject of economics and land use change, and Gabe on tourism development in Maine.

Gregory White, also an REP professor, discussed his research on the impact of grocery stores in rural Maine.

Panelists included Robert Baldacci of Pierce Atwood, LLP, Jonathan Daniels of Eastern Maine Development Corp., Laurie Lachance, president of the Maine Development Foundation in Augusta and former state economist, Michael Starn of the Maine Municipal Association and Steve Deller, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and formerly a faculty member with the UMaine Department of Resource Economics and Policy.

Other organizers included faculty members Tai Cheng and Tom Allen of REP.