Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Beckman Institute [PAGE 7]

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number two. For in 1985 we also achieved both educational reform in Illinois and the single largest advance in educational funding in the history of this State. We kept our promise to the people and the schools of this State and I kept my promise to Dr. Beckman. I want to say a personal word about the importance of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Institute to the State. First, it sends notice around the world that the University of Illinois, our land-grant university, our flagship university, refuses to take second place or second rank in anything. It sends notice around the world that if you as a teacher or a researcher or a student want to be associated with the most extraordinary effort to be found anywhere in the world on the issue of artificial intelligence you had better be associated with the Beckman Institute. Everything else is an "also ran." The Institute is important to the State of Illinois because it further diversifies this State's commitment to high technology—both in the universities and in the marketplace. We refuse to put all of our chips in one basket. We don't want to be another Silicon Valley and have our hightech fortunes rise and fell on cyclical trends in an industry. That is why at the University of Illinois and in ChampaignUrbana and the surrounding area, we encourage not only the study of artificial intelligence but microelectronics, research and development in supercomputing, and the application of supercomputing, engineering, agrigenetics and so many other areas. That is why in the City of Chicago we pursue high technology in medicine and biotechnology; why in Lake County we encourage pharmaceutical technology; why on the 1-57 Corridor of Opportunity, we are pursuing laser technology and related software with Bell Labs and other companies. We want a strong and diversified high tech base for this State and our efforts are paying off. The Institute also sends notice to the world that Illinois is not afraid to invest for the future. Even if we have to squeeze other parts of the budget just a little, we are investing in education now for a payoff in the future. It tells the world that we in Illinois are equal to that challenge. If the competitive edge is to be restored to American industries so that Americans and Illinoisans