University research is vital to the state’s economic future.

Some Kansas officials got a lesson in life — life sciences research, that is — earlier this month.

Kansas University officials helped provide a briefing in Kansas City for Lt. Gov. John Moore and other state officials on life sciences research and how that research can pay off for the region’s economy. Among those briefing state officials were KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway; William Neaves, president of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo.; and William Duncan, president of the Kansas City Life Sciences Institute.

The goal of the session, which included tours of the Stowers Institute and the KU Medical Center, was to help state officials understand how university research and the life sciences initiative contribute — and could contribute even more — to the state’s economic well-being. The presenters shared information on how research can be turned into commercial projects and how life sciences work being done at KU already is contributing to that goal.

This is a message that the lieutenant governor, who also heads the state’s commerce department, need to hear — loudly and clearly. Too many people look at the state’s major research universities only as a place where students can pursue college degrees. Providing an educated work force certainly helps fuel the state’s economic development, but universities do far more than that.

The research being carried out by faculty and graduate students has real value in the commercial world. Partnering with the private sector to turn new knowledge acquired on university campuses into commercial uses can provide an important base for economic development in the state. The businesses created or attracted to Kansas by university-related projects can increase the tax base and provide well-paying jobs for Kansans.

State lawmakers and top officials need to understand that funding state universities isn’t just an investment in individual students; it’s an investment in the state’s future. If the state can capitalize on some of the cutting-edge research being done at KU, Kansas State University and Wichita State University, it can build the state’s economic engine and provide the kind of jobs that will keep state university graduates in Kansas rather than sending them off to better jobs in other states.

We are hopeful Lt. Gov. John Moore fully understands that message and will carry it back to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and members of the Kansas Legislature.