RTP businesses praise wish list

RALEIGH — A coalition of 25 economic development organizations met Tuesday to introduce a landmark legislative agenda that could change the way North Carolina does business on a global level.

Its agenda, in support of Research Triangle Park, seeks to enhance economic growth for both the high-tech business area and the entire state.

In 2004, RTP started “Staying on Top: Winning the Job Wars of the Future” in an effort to bring 100,000 jobs to RTP and the surrounding areas.

To make this possible, RTP proposed the action agenda that will create a unified legislative front to boost employment in the state.

“This agenda was created for one reason — jobs,” Jeff Stocks, coalition spokesman and president/CEO of Manpower Inc., stated in a Tuesday press release.

The program suggests three main strategies to attract jobs. “In order to go after jobs there are three areas: education and workforce development; incentives; and transportation,” said Demming Bass, spokesman for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.

Bass added that RTP’s 2005 agenda identifies a pressing need to accelerate programs at community colleges and universities to fill the available jobs within the rapidly growing economy.

“It is clear that universities and community colleges are huge engines for job growth and job retention,” said Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake.

The park’s agenda calls for the state to allocate $7.1 million to the N.C. Community College System’s BioNetwork program and $8.9 million in equipment to the Allied Health Program.

“We want our region to be a world leader in intellectual capacity, education and innovation to enhance productivity and economic growth,” Stocks stated in the press release.

Both education programs seek to strengthen the potential work force by building skills in RTP’s strongest industries — science and technology.

To create the “Staying on Top” program, RTP determined which industries best compete at the global level by looking at a 2001 study by Harvard University.

Michael Porter, a Harvard economics professor, reduced the economy to clusters or concentrations of companies and their vendors that support growth and development.

“(RTP has) 10 clusters that we focus on,” said Charles Hayes, president of RTP Partnership. “They tell us what areas we could lead the world in — where can we compete in the world and win.”

These clusters, such as pharmaceuticals and informatics, are the primary focus of RTP’s legislative agenda.

“We looked up war in the dictionary, and the definition is two opposing forces after a common goal,” Hayes said. “We are at war for investment in jobs.”

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