Fargo Economic Forum: Economic Insights: Getting Our Universities Connected

In the global business environment, telecommunications infrastructure isn’t just an afterthought, it is fundamental. So much so, in fact, that the GFMEDC’s community strategic planning initiative has identified telecommunications infrastructure as one of the five building blocks that Fargo Moorhead must develop to transition to a technology-based economy.

Today there are two different forms of telecom infrastructure that we need to distinguish. The first is telecom build out within the community. This type of infrastructure allows us to get internet access in our homes and businesses, and is delivered by local providers like IdeaOne, Qwest and others. The other form of telecom infrastructure is an advanced fiber optical backbone that is capable of transporting huge amounts of data efficiently and cost-effectively, and is available only to research universities, federal research laboratories and their partners.

Right now, this advanced broadband information services network connects research and educational institutions across the United States – except, unfortunately, North Dakota and a handful of other states in the upper Great Plains and Northwest. That’s why North Dakota and Minnesota have partnered with universities, federal research labs and network organizations to create the Northern Tier Network Consortium, whose mission is to bring the next generation of connectivity to this area. Since the consortium’s inception, advanced fiber optic connectivity has spread and the original gap between Chicago and Seattle has been shortened to the distance between Minneapolis and Billings, Mont.

Fargo-Moorhead needs its local universities – North Dakota State University (NDSU), Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) and Concordia College – on the Northern Tier map. Being connected to institutions around the country will empower our universities to participate in world-class collaborative research and will empower our community to participate more profoundly in the nation’s technology economy.

I have commented on the marriage of higher education, research, and the private sector in this column in the past. Technology companies choose their locations based on access to talent, intellectual capacity and intellectual infrastructure. This means hiring world-renowned scientists and researchers and recruiting the best and brightest students to our universities. These are the elements that growing technology companies demand in a business location.

Bonnie Neas is the Associate Vice President of Federal Government Relations and Director of the Center for High Performance Computing at NDSU. She is currently on sabbatical to lead the North Dakota University System’s ConnectND project and also devotes a great deal of her work to the Northern Tier consortium. She sums up the importance of Northern Tier’s mission well. “This type of networking is becoming a requirement for our scientists to compete successfully for federal grants. It is a resource to support collaborations between educational institutions, and between research universities and their private sector partners in developing new technologies and products. Last, but not least, this capability is needed for us to be able to recruit students and recruit and retain top research faculty. It is an economic driver.”

Neas is currently working with officials from a number of states to connect Fargo Moorhead to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities on the east, and the University of Montana at the Montana border on the west. This means securing money for equipment, implementation and recurring costs. It is no small task. Neas works tirelessly and deserves much credit.

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan also deserves big thanks for securing $3.25 million of federal money to begin the implementation of the network connecting NDSU and UND to the University of Minnesota. State funding has been requested from North Dakota to complete the other Northern Tier Network segments within the state. Local leaders will continue to work with both states, Minnesota and North Dakota, to secure the operating funds needed to maintain the network.

When we successfully finish what Bonnie Neas, the Northern Tier Network Consortium, and Senator Dorgan started, we will be empowering our universities to collaborate and compete on the national level. The telecommunications infrastructure building block of our community strategic planning initiative will be in place and we will be further on our way to a technology economy.

Walters is the president of the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation. He can be reached at 701-364-1900 or bwalters@gfmedc.com.