The audience at the monthly Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel heard new University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank explain how the university can “reach beyond its borders.”

Blank, who most recently served as the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, cited collaborative efforts with corporations like GE, the WARF-SWIB Venture Fund and the upcoming D2P program as examples of UW living up to the “Wisconsin Idea,” in which the university improves the lives of people in the community.

The former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers also talked about UW’s programs, such as volunteer mentors and management training, to help startups.

However, Blank noted there’s more work to do.

“We aren’t as aggressive or hungry enough (as states like Utah and Virginia),” Blank said of selling Wisconsin as a place to do business. “And that culture (of failure being acceptable) is still a little foreign to this area.”

Blank became chancellor in July. She earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Minnesota and a doctoral degree in economics from MIT.