Source: Shreveport Times
When Louisianans talk about our economic resources, oil and gas; agriculture and tourism come to mind.
What about the biomedical research or high-tech innovation?
Plenty of naysayers say the Cyber Innovation Center or the Biomedical Research Institute will never succeed and we're just throwing state money after a dream. They have a point — we should be careful about investments of taxpayer dollars.
But oil and gas, agriculture and tourists have not proven to be reliable moneymakers either.
It's time to think about future economies. The Council for a Better Louisiana has launched a lofty but needed discussion it calls an "Innovation Agenda." Quoting a report from the National Governors Association, CABL argues that "21st century places will succeed because of assets they create, not assets they inherit."
In other words, we should be encouraging creativity and research instead of taking our natural resources and existing industries for granted.
This is not a new concept in Louisiana economic development. But it is time to put some action behind it. CABL's proposal starts with the research already happening at Louisiana's colleges and universities.
It would like to see some statewide entity give focus and direction to research and innovation. If we look at what we're doing well and what might bring the biggest return on investment, we can invest smarter instead of always asking for new money. That same group would also help foster collaboration, private-sector investment and world-class talent, which are critical to research.
Other states — Mississippi and Arkansas, for example — are already making more progress than Louisiana. They at least have a strategic plan for using their own resources. And Georgia provides a model in the Georgia Research Alliance, which acts as a broker for distributing state money and matching private interests with university research. It turned $450 million in state money into $2 billion in federal and private money.
Some of the legwork toward a similar plan was done in Louisiana. After the 2005 hurricanes, a collaboration of the Board of Regents and the Louisiana Recovery Authority proposed the Louisiana Innovation Alliance, which would meet many of these goals. Maybe that plan needs to be resurrected, tweaked and implemented.
Louisiana has made other strides toward a knowledge-based economy in infrastructure such as the LONI super-computing network. And our region is already poised to contribute with Louisiana Tech's work in nanotechnology, LSUHSC's life sciences research and an emerging digital media market.
The trick is the next step: translating that work into profitable industry.
While the state's economic development teams actively recruit large manufacturing companies, which make great headlines and bring immediate gratification of jobs, we should not forget the impressive and often unrecognized work going on by Louisiana citizens in Louisiana institutions.
It might be slow in coming to fruition, but innovation is our future.
Publish Date:
12-23-2008
