By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The first in a series of regional conferences organized by the National Academy of Sciences wraps up today at the Clinton presidential library, with business leaders highlighting a variety of innovations and new business possibilities.
“We hope to (show) the federal authorities, particularly those that are involved in research and development and provide research dollars and economic dollars, that we really are doing things here that are worthy of their support,” said Mary Good, dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology.
“We also hope to get people from the state of Arkansas to know that we are doing things worthy of their support,” she said.
The National Academies Board on Science Technology and Economic Policy plans four more similar meetings later this year, the next one in Cleveland, Ohio. Others are planned for Hawaii, Seattle and somewhere on the East Coast, Good said.
One of the sessions today was on President Obama’s Cluster Initiative and involved Ginger Lew of the White House National Economic Council. The initiative promotes regional growth and development in certain economic disciplines.
A good example of a cluster in Arkansas, Good said, is information technology companies.
“We now have a cluster of IT companies, particularly with the influx of (Hewlett Packard) and Axiom, and for all practical purposes Alltel was an IT company, and then there’s Verizon,” Good said.
The administration’s “admonition is look and see what you have and try to build on that, don’t try to be everything for everybody,” she said. “Try to look at where you are viable, where you have strengths and build on this.”
Gov. Mike Beebe addressed the 100 participants today and noted the state’s history of producing business leaders and successful companies, including Wal-Mart, Tyson, Stephens Inc. and J.B. Hunt.
“There is a history in this state of entrepreneurs that have started businesses that have grown … into national and multi-national corporations employing tens of thousands and in some instances millions of employees,” Beebe said.
The governor also stressed the relationship between education and economic development and said that “tomorrow’s jobs and tomorrow’s economy are going to be based upon science, technology, engineering, mathematics and all sorts of innovative projects and prospects that most folks haven’t even thought about yet.”
