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RALEIGH -- To remain competitive in a global and changing economy, North Carolina must continue to invest in innovation and to help small start-up companies and businesses that will provide the "green' jobs of the future, Gov. Beverly Perdue told an audience Monday at the opening of the 25th Emerging Issues Forum, held at the Raleigh Convention Center.
This year's forum is titled "Creativity Inc." and focuses on how North Carolina can harness the power of its creative class to attract the jobs of the future. In keeping with that theme, Perdue defined the creative economy as "any job that turns brain power into economic power."
She gave several examples of how her administration is seeking to promote the creativity-driven jobs of the future. Her Innovation Council is looking at ways to tear down barriers to companies that will create alternative energy sources. This year, her administration is focusing some of its federal Workforce Training dollars to help small businesses get access to advisers who can help them prevent having to lay off employees. Her administration has committed to helping 2,000 businesses statewide get that assistance this year, she said.
The "low-tech, low-cost jobs are headed overseas and they are not coming back," Perdue said. "We don't have any choice but to seed innovation ... and to sharpen our competitive edge in a global economy."
She also touted her "Ready-Set-Go" education initiative, which pledges to ensure that every student who graduates from a North Carolina public school has the means to start a business, continue with technical training or continue on to college. New technology is being pioneered to make sure students are performing on grade level in reading and math, she said. She also echoed other speakers from Monday's forum and pledged to encourage thinking and creativity in classrooms.
While encouraging innovation, she urged the audience not to forget "that we have tremendously innovative and successful companies" already in the state. The state also has excellent research universities, and one continuing challenge is to capitalize on this research to move it "from the lab to the marketplace."
Perdue cited North Carolina's leadership in two industries directly related to the arts and creativity -- the film industry and more recently the digital game industry. Creative industries like these provide about 300,000 jobs in North Carolina, and they are jobs that will likely not be exported.
She cited Durham's Research Triangle Park as one way in which North Carolina in the past has transformed "brain power into economic power," and pledged to build on those successes. "We are not done yet. We have the spirit of creativity and innovation, and North Carolina is gearing up to do it again."
