Seminar predicts knowledge-driven economy

Oct. 23--South Dakota must act now in order to capitalize on global opportunities, starting with research and development at its universities, several state officials said Monday in Aberdeen.

More than 75 people -- at least half of which were students -- attended the "South Dakota at a Crossroads: The Knowledge Economy" seminar at Northern State University on Monday. The seminar was put on by the Genesis Group, a statewide economic group dedicated to keeping South Dakota's top intellectual minds in the state. The seminar addressed how South Dakota can participate in the newest level of what officials called "the knowledge economy." The seminar will be repeated in Brookings, Madison, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish and Vermillion.

"The economy of today and tomorrow is not an economy that will be driven by ag, timber, retail or any other of the traditional things that usually help drive an economy," said Greg Bartron, executive director of the Genesis Group. "It will be driven by knowledge."

Kathryn Johnson, an environmental scientist who serves on the state's Board of Regents, said it's important the state's universities play a role in developing South Dakota's knowledge economy. The schools need to continue to breed the best minds, but then the state must follow it up by keeping those minds in the state, she said.

"The universities have a special obligation to create more knowledge," Johnson said. "Without knowledge, we have no innovation. ... South Dakota can't afford to put off any longer our own commitment to the knowledge-based economy."

Johnson, Bartron and Dennis Anderson, president of the Genesis Equity Fund, which matches inventors and entrepreneurs with South Dakota investors hoping to back business ventures, pointed to T. Denny Sanford's investment to the medical community, the Governor's 2010 initiative calling for more research and the Homestake Mine Laboratory as positive growth in the state's effort to advance its research.

"We're poised to have our researchers work with the best around the world," Bartron said.

Still, there's more to be done, he said.

Johnson said the Regents will ask the Legislature for about $18 million for 2008 to be used to create a broadband Internet network, a research pool to aid in development and to service a bond issue for laboratory upgrades.

"The light is shining very brightly on South Dakota," Johnson said. "It's very critical we take advantage of it."

"We have the opportunity on campus to turn brain drain into brain gain," Barton added.

Stephen Tye, vice president of clinical operations for IKOR Life -- an Aberdeen-based company developing veterinarian and human blood substitute products from bovine blood -- said his is one company that can't wait to employ graduates of the state's university system. IKOR currently has five employees, but Tye said the company continues to grow.

"I can't wait for you guys to start graduating," he told the students at the seminar.

Dr. Stephen Hall, founder and president of AlphaGenix in Sioux Falls, said there are benefits to starting companies in South Dakota. Hall was working in San Diego, Calif., before moving to Sioux Falls to open his lab. AlphaGenix is a life science company that develops products for research in the areas of cancer, development, endocrinology, infectious diseases, immunology, neuroscience and stem cell biology.

"Science is a collective effort," Hall said. "It doesn't move forward unless everyone participates. We have a lot of opportunity here. ... We have the idea base, we have those who can create and we have the revenue. We have real issues here in South Dakota that need to be addressed. There's no reason why we can't be doing them."

Reporter Emily Arthur-Richardt; (605) 622-2314 or 1-800-925-4100 ext. 314; earthur@aberdeennews.com

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