Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers delivered the concluding keynote address to the Emerging Issues Forum Friday. He encouraged audience members to spur change in higher education by maintaining university traditions, while taking a long view for the future.

“What happens in our universities, what and how they teach, who they take and what ideas they develop [are] … as important as any question our society answers,” he said.

Summers noted the presence of international competition in higher education and said American Universities “have to take the lead.”

“Is there any moment we are more malleable for our adult lives than between the ages of 18 and 22?” he asked.

He said domestic universities have the opportunity to change the image of the country abroad through student exchange programs.

Summers said universities also have an important role in passing national culture and history on to their students.

Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, will play a key role in implementing changes that Summers suggested, according to former Governor Jim Hunt.

Bowles said he learned a lot from the two-day forum and wants to apply the new ideas in the near future, as opposed to going home to “act as if nothing has changed.”

“The world has changed, and we have to change with it,” he said.

Summers listed objectives to spur change in higher education, such as unleashing creative energy, taking a long view of the future, knowing how to identify success and failures, and taking chances.

He challenged the audience members to ensure that the state of North Carolina, as well as the nation, remains competitive in a knowledge-based global economy.

Bowles said one way to do so is to take steps toward “accessible and affordable” higher education.

He joked that he was “not scared of failure” and said he would be one of many to travel to every region of the state of North Carolina to listen to representatives speak about their educational needs.

“However important universities have been, they are going to be even more important in the future,” Summers said.

Summers said an influence on the economy is among the reasons for the importance of universities.

“Universities are incubators of knowledge that drive our economy forward,” he said.

The Institute for Emerging Issues at the University formed a business committee on higher education led by former GlaxoSmithKline CEO Bob Ingram and Board of Trustee member Ann Goodnight, according to Shellie Edge, communications program manager for the Emerging Issues Forum.

According to a release by Edge, the committee will make reccommendations for higher education in the state of North Carolina.

She said upwards of 700 business, government and higher education leaders attended the forum.