Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM)

Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM) the state’s business roundtable, is dedicated to making Michigan a Top Ten state for jobs, personal income and a healthy economy. The organization is composed exclusively of the executive leaders of Michigan’s largest companies and universities. 

A 2020 study released by BLM reviews the economic potential of research universities in general, as well as the specific entrepreneurship and development work being done at Michigan’s University Research Corridor (URC) institutions – Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University. The study analyzed the achievements of major research universities in three key areas, and found Michigan’s institutions stack up well when compared to other top U.S. clusters. 

Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM) and the URC have been engaged as strategic partners, working together over the years to identify and advance opportunities to strengthen Michigan’s economy. A business executive roundtable made up of the state’s largest job providers and universities, BLM is focused on making Michigan a “Top Ten” state for jobs, personal income and a healthy economy.

To help Michigan be more competitive and grow our economy, the Building a New Michigan Plan, a recent update to BLM’s Michigan Turnaround Plan, calls on business, community, university, government and public leaders to leverage and invest in our state assets. One significant asset which BLM prioritizes for investment is higher education to increase educational attainment of the state’s population and to accelerate innovation through growth in R&D.  Read More About BLM’s Michigan Plan

Accelerate Michigan

Accelerate Michigan is a strategic alliance between the URC and Business Leaders for Michigan (BLM), a business roundtable executives from the state’s largest job providers and universities, including the three URC universities.

By uniting research universities and business leaders, Accelerate Michigan℠ aims to place Michigan among the “Top Ten” states for accelerating economic transformation and cultivating entrepreneurism based on mutually beneficial values, investments and activities. According to the Michigan Turnaround Plan, Michigan has lagged the nation in job and economic growth for the past generation; the alliance will strive to accelerate Michigan back to the top.

In order to support a new and stronger economy for our state, Accelerate Michigan℠ constructed three pillars to build upon. The first pillar is based on changing our state’s culture, the second is based on increasing the availability of capital and the third is based on increasing collaboration. Each pillar is composed of three major actions. Together, these pillars will be the drivers of economic growth.

• Pillar 1: Championing Entrepreneurship & Innovation
• Pillar 2: Growing capacity to scale ideas
• Pillar 3: Catalyzing Clusters of Innovations