Innovate UNC hits the District

Despite basketball disappointment and all the student election shame, Wednesday was actually one of my prouder days as a Tar Heel. As I watched UNC shine in the national policy spotlight, it made me optimistic for the future.

Let me explain.

On Wednesday morning, The Atlantic held a televised town hall event about jobs and the economy here in D.C.

They had headline interviews — including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — as well as distinguished panelists, including Chancellor Holden Thorp. All this was in front of an in-studio audience, with webcasts to students at UNC and Miami of Ohio.

I received an invite through UNC to join the in-studio crowd. With trepidation, I ended up seated behind the panelists, so I knew I’d have to try and sit still with an interested expression for over three hours.

In the end, the only challenge was controlling the smile on my face as UNC went from strength to strength.

First, the UNC students connecting live blew Miami of Ohio out of the water with their intelligent questions for the interviewees and the first panel on communication’s role in the modern economy, the impact of global trade by individual states, and more.

And then Chancellor Thorp anchored the second panel on innovation and building new businesses in America.

There has been some confusion about innovation at UNC, but Thorp had no problem sharing his vision to the audience in D.C.

As he talked about getting more startups off the ground, connecting researchers to venture funding and bringing entrepreneurs like those in the room into the ivory tower of academia, the moderator and other panelists turned to him as some kind of “innovation oracle.” The listening crowd and panelists got it, and our chancellor seemed surprisingly comfortable in TV makeup on stage.

I’m told that after the event, Thorp and Professor Buck Goldstein (University entrepreneur-in-residence) went to the White House to talk innovation strategy there.

Sure, I’m proud of UNC, but I didn’t go into the event expecting it to be such a showcase of the talents and interests of UNC students and faculty. But through the course of the event, it was clear that whatever we have going on with innovation, other people want to hear about it.

So I left with a couple of conclusions. First, however dubious UNC students and faculty are about the Chancellor’s innovation message, the business and policy community is waking up and watching what’s happening. And second, this really is a chance for UNC to shine if we serve as an example for institutions around the country.

Maybe Thorp took it a little too far when he tweeted: “Our students are talking about the future and asking smart questions instead of wasting time sitting in a tent,” in response to one particularly good student question from Chapel Hill.

But it was true — and despite the pain of the evening’s loss, Wednesday was a good day for UNC.

Mark Laichena is a columnist for the Daily Tar Heel. He is a junior Peace, War and Defense and Political Science major from London, England. Contact him at laichena@email.unc.edu