SC, UT Chambers Want Bigger TBED Efforts
Business community advocacy for public investments in technology-based economic development (TBED) may make the difference between legislators appropriating programs $1 million or $100 million. Most importantly, active private sector engagement in establishing, implementing and overseeing a state or community's TBED agenda speeds realization of the true benefits of public-private TBED partnerships: more competitive and innovative companies, more high-yield investment opportunities, more high paying jobs, and a more skilled workforce.
Unfortunately, often the largest business associations in town -- the chambers of commerce -- are the last to embrace the long-term investments necessary to effect real positive change in their communities or states. In other regions, chamber involvement stems from a one-upmanship philosophy that also grips many politicians, as we're seeing in the escalating battle between the states to simply spend the most in stem cell research.
There are promising alternatives that focus inward, however, as the two stories below from South Carolina and Utah reveal.
South Carolina Chamber of Commerce Supports TBED Agenda
Increasing per capita income and boosting the state’s competitiveness are among the legislative priorities outlined by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce for the upcoming year. The 2005 Business Agenda released by the chamber also seeks to attract new business investment, particularly in life sciences and technology fields.
An article in The State reports the push for these goals stems from a study on the state’s economy recently presented by Harvard economist Michael Porter. South Carolina’s per capita income has traditionally lagged that of neighboring states. The chamber reports South Carolinians earn 82 percent of the national average.
Two of the five items on the chamber's agenda, "Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce" and "Encouraging Economic Development," focus on achieving these goals.
The workforce initiative is designed to help students see the relationship between academics and later career success. This includes support for the Education and Economic Development Act, comprehensive legislation that includes focusing electives around career clusters to prepare students for post-secondary education and the workforce.
To encourage economic development, the Chamber seeks to raise worker productivity and reduce business costs, which it hopes will result in increased per capita income. This initiative includes continued support for the Endowed Chairs program, improvement of investor tax credits to support innovative start-ups, extended job tax and job development credits to small and existing businesses, and ensured funding for the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Items on the agenda were selected based on their connection to a series of key economic drivers developed by the Hudson Institute, according to President and CEO of the Chamber, S. Hunter Howard, Jr.
A grading system also will be developed by the Hudson Institute to help track the state’s progress measured under five key areas including education and workforce, business costs, government/regulatory, infrastructure/quality of life, and dynamism/entrepreneurship. More information is available from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce at: http://www.scchamber.net
Report Urges $400M Investment for High-Tech R&D in Utah
Utah must take immediate action to significantly invest in high-tech research and development (R&D) in order not to forgo significant economic development opportunities, according to a report from the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Despite its early success in tech-based economic development, the state is now at a crucial crossroad, the report authors contend. Studies indicate that Utah's large concentration of young people are leaving the state for better opportunities and without the critical mass of intellectual capital provided by this group, homegrown innovation and high-tech businesses and products will become increasingly scarce.
The proposed initiative calls for R&D to be organized into 25 different research clusters and carries a price tag of an estimated $400 million. Facilities would cost approximately $270 million and be housed mostly at Utah’s two research universities, the University of Utah and Utah State University. Investments in research clusters and technology commercialization would require an additional $130 million, or $26 million per year for five years, the report indicates.
Financing options include general fund appropriations, general obligation bonds or bonding through the state Building Ownership Authority Act, supplementation through the Redevelopment Agencies Act, and seeking private contributions and matching federal funds. The start-up phase would require state funding, the authors say. Once the new research is established and technologies are being transferred to the private sector, however, the initiatives would be self-sustaining and could provide a substantial return to Utah’s economy.
The most likely niches where R&D resources would be deployed are in the five areas in which the chamber believes Utah already has strengths:
- Neuroscience
- Life Sciences and Biotechnology
- Information Technology and Informatics
- Sensor and Prototype Development, and
- Water, Watershed, Climate and Weather
The authors urge the Utah State Legislature to take action in the 2005 legislative session. No bills have been drafted for the initiative, although legislation will be introduced during the 2005 General Session, according to the chamber.
The report, Economic Development and the High Technology Industry in Utah: Trends, Implications and Recommendations, is available from the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce at: http://www.slacc.org/
South Carolina