University have largery bought into this view, both because it makes their work more economically relevant and as a way to bolster their budgets. Unfortunately, not only does this view oversell the immediately commercial function of the university; it also misses the deeper and more fundamental contributions made by the university to innovation, the larger economy, and society as a whole. This report examines the university’s role in the Creative Economy through the lens of the “3T’s” of economic development: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance. To do so, it examines a wide range of data and trends on technology transfer, startup companies, talent, brain drain, tolerance, and creativity for U.S. metro regions.1