The records that make up the 1992 accession of the Michigan Technology Council record group document the founding and formative years of a broad-based Michigan organization concerned with an issue of vital concern to educational, business, and governmental leaders of the 1980s: the impact of high technology upon industry and society as a whole. Researchers interested in the changing nature of research and industry in the United States (and particularly in Michigan) during the technological boom of the 1980s will find in the record group ample accounts of such changes from the perspective of the people most interested in promoting them and profiting from them. Resistance to and fear of such changes are documented in the record group, as well, through letters and newspaper articles that present views opposing those of the MTC. The record group also provides insights about the relationships between industry, higher education, and government; particular technological topics such as computers, robotics, and biotechnology; tactics for promoting and marketing technological advances in various sectors of the community; and, of course, the history and organization of MTC itself.
Because the records of the 1992 accession were donated to the Bentley Historical Library not by the MTC but by a loosely related organization, the Industrial Development Division of the Institute for Science and Technology, and because the IDD's 1986 reorganization substantially diminished its connections to the MTC, the record group cannot provide a complete picture of the MTC; it documents the early rather than the recent history of the organization, and it concentrates heavily on a few MTC subcommittees and activities while providing scant details about others. Anticipated subsequent accessions to the record group should be able to fill in these gaps. Nevertheless, the records of the first accession document relatively comprehensively the organization's primary goals and concerns, as expressed through agendas, minutes, correspondence, reports, and pamphlets.
The Michigan Technology Council began in October 1978 as an ad hoc coalition of representatives from the University of Michigan, technology-based industries, and the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce. Originally called the Technology Based Industry-University Committee, the coalition was assembled by the Industrial Development Division (IDD) of the University's Institute for Science and Technology for the purposes of expanding cooperation between industry and the University and promoting the development of technology-based industry in the Ann Arbor area.
With extensive staff support from the IDD, the steering committee for the autonomous Technology Based Industry-University Committee began holding monthly meetings in March 1979. In March 1981 the Committee renamed itself the Michigan Technology Council (MTC)and began expanding its scope to the regional and state level, becoming incorporated as a non-profit organization later that year. In 1983 the MTC outlined its newly defined mission: "to coordinate the initiatives of business leaders with those of all Michigan educational institutions, venture capital firms, Chambers of Commerce, industrial development groups, governmental units, and other groups whose goal is to create jobs in Michigan through the growth of technology-based businesses."
By 1986 MTC's membership had grown to include "over 1600 people from some 450 companies, educational institutions and governmental agencies throughout Michigan," most of whom were "middle and upper level managers." During the first decade of its existence, the MTC's major activities included holding forums such as breakfast briefings, conferences, and educational workshops; organizing job fairs and technology fairs; and establishing committees to research and promote Michigan technological growth in the specific areas of computers, robotics, biotechnology, and technology parks. At the time of this writing, MTC still exists as a statewide agency; its offices are located on the University of Michigan campus, and its main member services are specialty training seminars.
