Joan T.A. Gabel
President, University of Minnesota
Academic Vice-chair, Council on Competitiveness
“There are natural tensions in any partnership, but it’s in those tensions where the magic often happens.”
In her Op-Ed, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel details how innovation is rooted in partnerships. Multi-layered, rich in diverse perspectives, and balanced by natural tension between businesses, state and local partners, and higher education, innovation flourishes where higher education takes a lead role in deliberately finding the intersections between those competing interests for the benefit of all. President Gabel believes that intersections, or “MNtersections,” are not accidents, they are the product of hard work in coalescing strengths, interests, and opportunities for maximum contribution. Higher education is uniquely positioned to lead these efforts and find the natural “add-ons” which come with innovation in one area leading to additional opportunity in related fields.
