Sunday, April 23, 2006

Do you have examples of programs to increase our innovation capacity?

Here's Doug Woodward's presentation at the Moore School of Business' 23rd Annual Economic Outlook Conference. In it he says,
Innovative capacity is the key to regional growth. Innovation is more than just science and technology. Enhancing innovative capacity requires progress in multiple ways:

* Expanding university research, also commercialization vehicles
* Taining of scientists and engineers
* High-quality MBA/management programs
* Risk capital and strong incentives to take risk
* Building supporting industries for commercialization (e.g. legal, accounting, consulting)
* Intellectual property protection
* Linking technology and entrepreneurs
Do you have an example of someone from the traditional economic development community with a program focused on increasing our innovation capacity?

1 comment:

The Cackalacky Candidate said...

When a factory closes, what do you have left? An empty building, unemployed people, and their families and children. An ample supply of human capital and their children who still need an education.

A lot is said about the "knowledge based economy." However, the largest industry in South Carolina is the service sector tourism industry, and that isn't like to go away any time soon. Thus, you have the duel, high tech/education/skills intensive, knowledge based economy and the good citizen/social graces intensive, service economy.

What South Carolina needs is a third major economic sector: the education based economy. With all those children who need schooling, the education based economy would consist of companies that derive their profits as a percentage of revenues that they inject into the school system. In other words, these companies produce products and services not to be sold to school but to be sold for the benefit of school; products and services that generate revenues for schools.

These products and services would be promoted and sold through normal retail channels to consumers. (As opposed to the current practice of children spending too much time peddling fundraising stuff.) The education revenues from the sale of these products and services could be used to reduce, dollar for dollar, personal and business property taxes. This would be a mechanism to transition way from property tax funding of schools to private sector funding of schools.