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here's no denying it: Nearly 18 percent of the projects tracked by Conway Data through most of 2006 in the Central Plains states were either ethanol or biodiesel plants.

An aerial view of the Bobcat manufacturing plant in Gwinner, ND.

They bring big bucks to counties from Oklahoma to North Dakota, and the new farm bill now before the U.S. Congress may mean the alternative energy industry will pack an even bigger wallop in the Plains economy.
   There's another undeniable fact about the Plains states: From North Dakota straight south through Texas runs an uninterrupted ribbon of right- to- work territory, with "forced- unionism" states Missouri and Colorado flanking Kansas.
   But can the infrastructure of knowledge be as important a factor as power, organized labor, land and transportation in industrial development? A survey of the Central Plains says, "yes." No matter how land and the people on it are organized, universities, colleges and community colleges may be an even more energy- packed resource than those hallowed fields. And in many cases, those fields are sprouting research parks before our very eyes.    Such is the case with what used to be 55 acres (22 hectares) of agriculture test plots for sunflowers near the campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo. Today it's the North Dakota State University Research & Technology Park.
   In late October, Ingersoll- Rand's Bobcat division was celebrated in the pages of The Wall Street Journal for its stolid U.S. manufacturing presence in the North Dakota towns of Gwinner and Bismarck, its US$550 million in exports leading the state, and also helping it be one of only a handful of states to show

North Dakota State University Research & Technology Park won the Excellence in Economic Development award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration over 19 other finalists.

manufacturing employment growth in the past few years. Helping the company stay on the cutting edge of the skid- steer loader market will be a new R&D center that Bobcat established at North Dakota State University Research & Technology Park in early October.
   The project is the latest success crowning a park that got its start in the discussions of a state higher education roundtable established in 1999. By May 2000, ground was being broken for the park. The property in turn helped to spark the creation in 2002 of the Red River Valley Research Corridor, which has attracted more than $300 million for development. One of the members of that original education roundtable was John Hoeven, now the state's governor. His 2003 Centers of Excellence program has resulted in a technology incubator on the NDSU park called the NDSU Center for Technology Enterprise, which has attracted more than $6.9 million in funds. The campus is home to six other Centers of Excellence as well, in areas ranging from beef systems to genetic research and advance electronics.
   Six years have produced six buildings, say Tony Grindberg, the park's executive director, and Carol Renner of NDSU Office of Research in a 2006 report. They include a new product introduction center from John Deere Corp.'s ruggedized electronics and systems division Phoenix International Corp., a 50,000- sq.- ft. (4,645- sq.m.) research and manufacturing facility from Calif.- based RFID tag firm Alien Technology and Bobcat's new home, the similarly- sized Center for Technology Enterprise.
   In addition to helping keep people in the state and sparking its own construction impact, part of the economic impact from the $75 million spent on facilities and equipment at the park has been enrollment growth of more than 25 percent, a more than doubling of its annual research expenditures and growth in doctoral students from 150 to more than 500. No wonder the park in June 2006 won the Excellence in Economic Development award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration over 19 other finalists.
   Fargo is not the only place where university research facilities are gaining corporate attention. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks recently received approval for $2.5 million from the state's new Centers of Excellence Commission to build a $3- million National Center for Hydrogen Technology. That's not the only energy project in Grand Forks: Dutch wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber is hiring several hundred new workers for an expansion.
   Bobcat plans to employ close to 50 engineers at its site within the first five years. The agreement allows NDSU and Bobcat to partner in future research and development opportunities, while providing the company with access to NDSU research expertise in advanced electronics, protective coatings, engineering and other disciplines.
   "We believe this demonstrates the confidence we have in this project," said Richard Pedtke, Ingersoll- Rand senior vice president and Compact Vehicle Technologies Sector president, of the new center it will occupy as anchor tenant. "We're anxious for other organizations to join us in this venture, so we can make the program even stronger. That's a benefit to all of the businesses, the university, the state and the community."
   That observation echoes what Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Milken Institute, had to say in a recent report he authored on technology transfer and universities.
   "Universities that don't encourage the commercial application of their research assets will not assist economic development in their communities and contribute fully to national competitiveness," he said.