So much has been said recently about the “brain drain” and the “smartest and brightest” fleeing Iowa that it can leave the false impression that the state is running a deficit in its intellectual capital account.

With Iowa’s long tradition of focusing on excellence in education, that has never been true and it certainly is not true now. Business development efforts that allow highly educated Iowans to remain in the state and work are important, and we’re blessed in Central Iowa to have more than a dozen colleges and universities and a plethora of companies such as Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Kemin Industries Inc., Monsanto Co. and others that have research operations that attract top scientists and researchers.

Together, they are contributing to a “brain gain” that is surprising to visitors from out of state – and some Iowans, too. That Iowa is smarter than many people may think is something that should be celebrated and embossed on every piece of literature that goes out marketing the state as a good place in which to live, work and play.

There’s more to the equation than high-tech companies and higher learning institutions, though. One example is the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, the result of businessman Ted Townsend’s fascination with the cognitive and communicative capabilities of great ape .With all the scientists with advanced degrees doing research there, the great ape facility is something of a brain trust in and of itself, but Townsend has gone a step further with a $1.5 million gift bearing the name of primate research pioneer Duane Rumbaugh and committed to education efforts throughout Iowa and the world.

The gift builds on academic relationships already formed with Iowa State University, Drake University, the University of Iowa, Central College, Buena Vista University, Grinnell College and Simpson College, as well as the Great Ape Research Institute in Okayama, Japan, and the Stone Age Institute in Indiana.

Townsend thinks the investment will go a long way toward making Iowa the global center for the study of primates, bringing more smart people to the state.

Efforts like that reverse the brain drain. Iowa needs more of them.