In our last blog post, we interviewed David Featherstone, M.S., Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to hear his perspective on the value of market research in a university setting. According to Dr. Featherstone, market research reports are a useful tool that can help demonstrate the practical applications of scientific knowledge.

When students learn how scientific research is being used in different industries, Dr. Featherstone said, they can start to think outside the box when it comes to future career opportunities. They’ll also be more empowered to pursue lifelong learning opportunities and be cognizant of the resources that real-world professionals use every day.

According to The New York Times, 65 percent of today's grade-school students may end up working in jobs that have not been invented yet. Preparing students to succeed in a rapidly shifting economy is an ongoing challenge for many educators.

David Featherstone, M.S., Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, believes that market research reports are an important tool to help expose undergraduate students to innovative, tech-based career opportunities.

“Most of my students are pre-health," explained Dr. Featherstone. "They are planning to become doctors, dentists or pharmacists. I wanted to make sure my students are aware of less traditional job opportunities that they might not know about.”

The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina supports entrepreneurial development and job creation in regions across the state. Through a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Kenan Institute recently launched Technology Commercialization Carolina, a new initiative that promotes tech-based start-ups.

To drive business innovation and promote economic growth, the Kenan Institute provides research services to UNC faculty and a diverse client base across a wide array of industries. The Kenan Institute creates custom analytical reports for entrepreneurs who need current market data to develop business plans and secure funding. Although the Kenan Institute has access to a robust university library system, its staff needed a wider breadth of market research.

In yesterday’s post, we interviewed Founder and CEO Rob Granader to find out what distinguishes MarketResearch.com from other business intelligence providers. We delved into MarketResearch.com’s new business strategy and explored its unique mix of innovative market research solutions.

Today, we continue our discussion with Rob and highlight several other attributes that help shape MarketResearch.com’s company culture and the overall customer experience.

The ups and downs of the world economy clashed and converged with the growth of MarketResearch.com — since its start at the end of the dot com bubble in 2001. MarketResearch.com has weathered a series of economic storms including the tech bubble, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Great Recession of 2009. Many of these downturns occurred at pivotal moments in the company’s history. Most pronounced, soon after MarketResearch.com finalized a large acquisition focused on the financial services market, the world’s banks went into a nosedive.

Despite these challenges, MarketResearch.com has become the leading provider of global market intelligence products and services, which are used by more than 5,000 companies a year and 89 percent of the Fortune 1000.

Many entrepreneurs hope to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. But even with an innovative idea, it’s difficult to launch a successful enterprise on your own. That’s where start-up incubators come in — these innovative programs offer would-be entrepreneurs expert advice, community support, and access to an influential network.

Some well-known start-up incubators are private, while others are sponsored by universities. About 32 percent of North American business incubators are run by academic institutions, according to the International Business Innovation Association.

“Experiential education is all the rage,” observes Steven Mintz, executive director of the Institute for Transformational Learning, in a recent article for Inside Higher Ed. From internships to study abroad programs to service-learning projects, universities are offering a wide variety of hands-on learning opportunities for students.

The experiential education trend is partly driven by demand from employers. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 79 percent of employers would like colleges to place more emphasis on internships and field experiences in order to help teach students critical thinking skills. Currently, more than half of all college seniors have engaged in experiential learning activities such as a practicum or internship.

MarketResearch.com is pleased to announce that we have added a new, industry-leading publisher to our academic platform, Unity Marketing. Unity Marketing specializes in consumer insights for those targeting the affluent consumer segment.  

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin.

Experience-based learning has always been a well-known education model, dating back to the Middle-Ages when apprenticeships were often the only way to learn a specific craft. Nowadays, more and more colleges are adopting this approach in the form of experiential learning programs, bringing real-world experience to students in the classroom.  

At some point or another, all undergraduate and graduate students will be assigned an intensive research project or thesis, or dissertation in the case of PhD candidates. Sometimes, these assignments can seem overwhelming at first. Not only is there substantial research to be done, but the research that is already available is wide-ranging. However, not all research found online is up-to-date or the level of quality needed for these types of projects. Being able to find enough sources, analyze them, and then organize them into a paper is difficult even for the best writers.