Study: Baltimore academia's state impact is $17.2 billion

Baltimore's institutions of higher education contribute more than $17.2 billion to Maryland's economy, dollars that could be leveraged to create a Maryland version of North Carolina's Research Triangle or California's Silicon Valley, according to a study scheduled to be released Tuesday.

More collaboration between universities, business and government could help lure and keep better students and faculty to start new companies and staff and support those firms already in Baltimore, according to the report from the Baltimore Collegetown Network.

And "quality-of-life" issues including housing, transportation and entertainment can be key to capitalizing on resources like the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore - and their two affiliated hospitals - Goucher College, Towson University and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, the study says.

Those are just a few of the 16 universities and colleges that are members of Baltimore Collegetown, a consortium devoted to marketing the region as a college town.

Baltimore Collegetown enlisted the Regional Economic Studies Institute, or RESI, at Towson University and the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore, to produce the study.

Building on the state's academic resources is a concept familiar to Maryland's policymakers, academic leaders and economic development officials.

Universities, their hospitals and the research and work force training provided there were highlighted in both the Greater Baltimore Committee State of the Region Report released last December and an Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore study in November.

The Baltimore Collegetown schools - 15 of them submitted data for the study; Baltimore Hebrew University did not - want to be a part of that public dialogue.

"Given the size and importance of the higher education sector, it makes great sense to include Collegetown and its member institutions at the table," the report reads.

The Daily Record obtained an early version of the study's executive summary.

Officials at Baltimore Collegetown declined to comment before the report's official release at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

There are those who question whether academia's impact on the local economy warrants public investment, said Anirban Basu, founder, chair and CEO of the Sage Policy Group, a Baltimore economic and policy consulting group.

That's where reports such as Baltimore Collegetown's can be of most value, he said.

"Many will point out these institutions, because they are nonprofit, they don't pay taxes," Basu said. "There's been a lot of small-minded thinking about the role these institutions play in the economy and our lives. This report helps push the conversation along in the right way. "

The economic impact of the Baltimore Collegetown member institutions includes more than $8 billion in direct expenditures, including salaries for about 67,000 direct employees, capital investments and other operating expenses, according to the study.

The impact also encompasses more than $9.2 billion in indirect benefits such as student living expenses and visitor spending, and more than 162,000 direct and indirect jobs.

In examining how North Carolina, Boston and California have grown their academic resources, the study says public-private partnerships are critical.

Businesses should partner more often with schools, and academic research parks are key, the report says.

Government should contribute to more projects like the University of Maryland BioPark on the city's west side and the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins on the east side, both of which have received public money, according to the report.

And investments in improving the quality of life in Baltimore - including transportation and housing - could help the area compete nationally for the best students and faculty, and encourage them to stay.

Basu said quality-of-life issues are at the core of building college towns.

In Baltimore, Charles Village is growing with Johns Hopkins as its anchor, he noted.

But the University of Baltimore in midtown is surrounded by empty parking lots and other undeveloped properties.

"Baltimore needs to become a very nice place to live and work," Basu said.