The Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) was created in 1995 as an economic development program of the University System of Georgia. In an effort to improve the state’s economy, ICAPP helps businesses use the resources of Georgia’s colleges and universities to meet their workforce needs, including access to college-educated employees, recent research, and free business advice. The program has attracted national attention and was recognized as a model program at U.S. vice president Al Gore’s 1999 workforce conference, “21st Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs.”
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Among the services offered by ICAPP is GeorgiaHire, a free online recruiting tool that matches employers with college-educated employees. GeorgiaHire’s Web site allows students and alumni from more than ninety of Georgia’s colleges, technical colleges, and universities to post their résumés for free. Résumés are automatically archived after 180 days to ensure currency. Employers can search résumés by a variety of criteria—including class standing, area of study, degree, or graduation date—and then email the selected candidates an invitation to apply for the position. Companies can also post job listings online for a small fee.
Another program, ICAPP Advantage, provides a unique opportunity for businesses to find qualified employees who are trained to begin work immediately upon graduation. With the help of ICAPP Advantage, a company and a learning institution together design a curriculum that fulfills the company’s hiring needs. In September 2000 ICAPP partnered with Lockheed Martin AeroMarietta and Southern Polytechnic State University (later Kennesaw State University) in Marietta to prepare eighty Lockheed Martin employees and other Georgians for software-engineering jobs at the company’s Cobb County facility. Graduates of the program were guaranteed jobs with Lockheed Martin.
ICAPP’s effort to connect companies with cutting-edge university research was exemplified in 2002 by its partnership with NCR Corporation, a leading global technology company. NCR donated software, equipment, and training valued at more than $3 million to Georgia Southern University and Georgia Southwestern State University to create a software development program, which gave the universities intellectual property rights to certain applications developed by NCR. Information technology students received the opportunity not only to master software programs that are actually used by retailers and other businesses, but also to initiate future development of the software.
In 2004 ICAPP established a new program in which the pharmacy school at the University of Georgia, in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the state, partnered to create a graduate-level certificate program. Courses, which are taught online and at the Gwinnett University Center by UGA faculty, prepare students for careers in the bioscience industry.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Assistance Program, a part of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Entrepreneur Services division, provides information on available federal grants to technology-based Georgia companies with fewer than 500 employees. The program also helps these small businesses locate university researchers with knowledge and skills related to specific technologies. Through the SBIR Assistance Program, research faculty can establish business relationships without university involvement but still have access to university facilities.
Finally, ICAPP provides access to the wealth of intellectual capital in Georgia’s public colleges and universities through its Web-based ICAPP Catalog of University System of Georgia Centers, Institutes, and Special Programs. Businesses can search hundreds of entries in the catalog to find expertise in a wide range of subjects.
