Process Improvement Group

Land grant extension services largely focus on extending benefits from research in agriculture, biology, and related sciences. Little emphasis has been placed on extending benefits from engineering and technology research and innovation. The OECD argues that science and technology based innovation is central to sustained economic development in the 21^st century. We introduce community driven technology innovation and investment as a program aimed at addressing community distrust of engineering and technology researchers, while developing an engagement process to help engineers convert community demands into engineering design requirements. The resulting ecosystem of community-university partnership is a novel approach to the land grant mission in the 21^st century.