Unfortunately, the need to create jobs continues. As the United States emerges from this historic downturn, the importance of job creation is even greater.
Earlier this month, I testified before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy around this very topic. I shared ideas to strengthen the country’s “innovation infrastructure.”
As the president and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, the organization that develops and manages RTP, I drew on the RTP experience to emphasize the importance of maintaining a long-term view of what is needed. Many of the same ideas that guided the development of RTP are quite relevant.
RTP was built upon the idea of increasing the opportunities for the citizens of North Carolina by attracting research companies to locate in a parcel of land surrounded by the state’s research universities — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University. The result is a place where companies can take advantage of the region’s intellectual assets and afford themselves of a strong innovation infrastructure.
In 50 years, RTP has become one of the largest-scale examples of how public and private policy can have a lasting impact on job creation and long-term economic competitiveness. Currently, there are more than 170 companies and research and development (R&D) facilities in RTP, with more than 42,000 employees with combined annual salaries of over $2.7 billion. The average salary in the Park is $56,000 annually, nearly 45 percent more than the regional average.
In and around the Park, the resulting “innovation infrastructure” provides a ready physical environment for corporate R&D activities, a business culture that encourages such operations, a deep pool of talented workers, a world-class cadre of neighboring companies and organizations like the NC Biotechnology Center and CED (Council for Entrepreneurial Development) that assist those starting out and provide support for key industry clusters.
Elements of the RTP model have been copied by research parks around the globe as others look to harness their knowledge assets and create jobs and an innovation capacity.
As Washington looks for ways to build on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we need bold new ideas on how to further the RTP model and create quality jobs in ways that also support long-term competitiveness.
This should include activities to build on programs of varying scales that show how communities have leveraged their strengths and resources. For example, using known “tools” such as tax-credits or direct incentives to redevelop vacant office and retail space to provide the physical spaces like wet-labs or other co-working options for innovation and discovery, or making credit available to companies in need and in ways that provide more efficient access.
Policies should also include targeting resources to those who are most agile and flexible to affect change. These tactics could include programs to incent individuals and start-up companies, as well as challenge local and federal government organizations, to take a new look at how they operate and interact to create and execute a national economic recovery strategy. For example, the federal government should look at ways to incent companies to bring work from an offshore location to a U.S. location marked by high unemployment. We could expand the “Invest in America” program and resource programs to identify opportunities for foreign direct investment in the US. For individuals, we could find creative ways to help talented workers “stranded” in markets where they cannot sell their homes to be more mobile and go to where the jobs are.
This recession is like none other. We are not just “rebooting” our economic system; we are likely moving to a new operating platform. Our actions now are merely a down payment towards a road to long-term recovery.
As such, we should learn from historical successes, but also realize that different paradigms are needed. In recalibrating the way we do things, we can look to the RTP and appreciate that “big bets” often do become reality — especially when backed with the commitment of a region and the discipline to place a long-term view of what will be needed before non-sustainable short-term gains.
Rick Weddle is president and CEO, The Research Triangle Park.
