COMMENTARY
Statewide planning needed to energize economy, work force
By Shelley Mark
Hawai'i's Legislature has drawn itself up to its full height and declared that the state shall have a vision and that the state administration shall come up with one.
Presumably, during its lifetime.
Now, having such instruction is nothing new, as the many charges in existing general and functional planning documents and other legislation will amply testify.
But what lies ahead?
Aside from the inevitable call to sustain tourism and seek diversification, what is our vision? Since it has become fashionable to prescribe "road maps" to solve troublesome international issues, why not a "road map" to Hawai'i's destiny?
Quite apart from administrative or legislative involvement, call it "an agenda for responsible and sustainable development."
What we must do:
• First, rejuvenate a statewide planning process, charged with developing short- and long-term strategies for expanding and diversifying the economy, maximizing opportunities for business development, and securing higher-paying jobs and better living standards for workers, young and old — all to the end of changing our focus from "sun and surf" to a technology-driven, globally competitive economy.
• Focus on sustainable growth in a more diversified visitor industry that provides jobs, income and investment opportunity, but in ways that will not deplete our precious resources or divert them away from benefit and enjoyment of all our citizens, residential or transient.
Shelley Mark is a former director of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.
• Think of technological progress, not only to promote entry of new firms, but also to encourage its spread to all firms, old and new, to enhance their productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.
• Support the development of "critical masses" or company "clusters" and public-private sector partnerships in key technology areas such as information and communications technology, biotechnology; healthcare and medical science; natural resource and environmental management; defense; homeland security and dual-use technology; alternative energy; ocean and marine research; and tourism diversification.
Build on the live-wire examples that already exist at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i, the Maui Supercomputer Center, the University Research Park in Hilo, and the emerging Kaka'ako Medical and Biotechnology Research Center in Honolulu.
• With our growing technical knowledge and expertise and abundance of renewable energy resources (solar, wind, thermal, ocean, biomass), support experimentation in hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity and reduce auto operational costs.
• See that quality research endeavors at the university and elsewhere can be supported and expanded, particularly in areas where their most promising outputs can be transformed into employment, income and quality-of-life enhancement .
• Intensify efforts to develop diversified crops for export and support agricultural enterprise as a basis for biotechnology research in seed culture and crop management, for maintaining biodiversity and open-space vistas and as an antidote against global warming.
• Continue to look to Asia as a source of tourist and market enhancement and as a basis of cultural enrichment.
From Gov. Burns to Gov. Cayetano, Hawai'i as the Geneva of the Pacific was always an aspiration. With the recent convening of the annual business executive-level sessions of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) and the government ministerial-level sessions of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at the Hawai'i Convention Center, we might say that Geneva has already arrived in warm-weather garb.
Top this off by persuading Bill Gates to sponsor a summer-session Davos retreat of world political and corporate difference-makers at his Lana'i nuptial site.
How will we do it
Globally, we find ourselves in the midst of a knowledge revolution. It may seem that the great minds reside elsewhere and that the great discoveries are not ours to make.
Yet if only we change this perception, we can find opportunity. Intellectually, we are no longer isolated. Through the Internet at least, we have access to a knowledge base beyond our wildest dreams of only a half-century ago, and distance learning can bring the world's finest teachers into our classrooms and living rooms.
But the road will be long and torturous and may not even be anywhere on the map.
First things first. We will need to upgrade education and training programs to improve basic oral and written communication skills, enhance our understanding and capabilities in global transactions, and update work-force knowledge of global trends.
Greater attention must be paid to establishing linkages between industry and the education community to meet anticipated increases in training and workplace requirements.
At higher education levels, there will be the need to maintain vigilance on up-to-the-moment technical information and discoveries. There will also be a need to reorient some professional disciplines such as law, accounting, corporate management and finance to meet the more specialized requirements of technology-based transactions.
We must ensure that the physical infrastructure, including affordable land area, building space, and telecom connections, are put in place and that infrastructure is modernized to facilitate the growth of economy-wide, globally alert technology-based ventures.
There is need to further streamline the regulatory process, encourage venture capital investment and provide incentives with adequate revenue and environmental-protection safeguards to support smart entrepreneurial activity and reduce costs of doing business.
Place increasing emphasis on promoting Hawai'i's diversified products and services through joint tourism and industry promotion programs so that Hawai'i is recognized as a serious location for research, business transactions and technology-based development.
Finally, the University of Hawai'i must take the lead in further internalization of the educational process.
Much of the means for meeting these requirements exists already. Assuming they can be met, through both public funding and greatly expanded private sector support, what can be our vision for, say, the year 2015? Why not:
• A self-sustaining economy that is poised to take advantage of technological breakthroughs to create and sustain jobs for our work force and opportunities for our entrepreneurs.
• A work force of young and old who are actively acquiring the knowledge and know-how to move up in an increasingly complex and challenging global economy.
• A natural environment that supports economic progress, yet retains the vision of natural beauty and scenic wonder.
• A Hawai'i Nei that is claiming its destiny as the vibrant center of Pacific commerce, learning and culture while serving our people effectively and compassionately.
Shelley Mark is a former director of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.
