Participants in a two-day conference at the College this spring agreed that collaboration among government, business, and academia is essential to promoting economic development in upstate New York.
And President Roger Hull, following up on that consensus, put together a consortium to continue the theme (see “Upstate Partners Roundtable Starts” for more information).
Collaboration as a key to upstate growth was a theme touched on by nearly every speaker at the Union conference, from the opening remarks of John Kelly III '76, senior vice president and group executive, technology group, at IBM, to the closing remarks of New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels.
“The vast intellectual resources of our colleges and universities will be the economic engine of upstate New York,” said Daniels to the 130 business, government, and academic leaders who attended. “Too often in the past there has been a disconnect between the campus and the community.”
With 262 colleges and universities, New York State is attractive to high-tech businesses that look for “intellectual capital” when they choose a new location, said Mark Little, vice president of GE Power Systems.
The challenge is to link commencement day with a line-up of attractive options in the job market. Bela Musits, managing director of High Peaks Venture Partners, said that New York State's smaller cities historically have been one-company towns.
“Places that are experiencing growth have a more diverse economic base, and achieving that takes strong collaboration between government, private enterprise, and colleges and universities,” he said. “And you also need a balance between attracting businesses from elsewhere and helping home businesses grow.”
New York cannot afford to fail, said Daniels. “We were late to the idea of Silicon Valley, and we can't make that mistake again,” said Daniels. “Twenty years from today, small towns like Schenectady and Troy will become increasingly attractive, if they're not in isolation.”
Several panelists pointed to the renovation of Seward Place, just west of the campus, as an outstanding example of the power of partnership. The College renovated some forty houses to provide apartment-style housing for more than 150 students, and the city of Schenectady spruced up the streets and sidewalks.
Other panelists noted that colleges are already involved in community improvement efforts through tutoring programs and college teacher training programs. “The biggest thing is to make a commitment to help local schools through all the person power we can muster,” said Kenneth Shaw, chancellor of Syracuse University. Each year, Syracuse students log 20,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring in local schools, and the university contributes 500,000 hours of community service.
President Hull said that the people represented at the conference have the ability to effect change, but that, “We need to determine what change we'd like to effect. The potential we have, if we work together, is unlimited; the obligation we have is a very important one. I look forward to continuing the conversation.”
Catch the waves
In his opening remarks to the conference on upstate partnerships, John E. Kelly III '76 of IBM said the goal of economic development “is to catch the waves of change.”
“The upstate New York economy has caught many waves, with IBM, Kodak, Corning, General Electric, and others,” he said. “The current wave is information technology-and it's not over yet.”
He said that since the 1980s, high tech jobs have represented four percent of the country's jobs and generated about four percent of the gross national product. In coming years, the percentage of jobs is predicted to stay the same but the percentage of the GNP from high technology is expected to rise to twenty percent.
Kelly, senior vice president and group executive, technology group, at IBM, said that changes in four areas will transform every aspect of our lives:
Pervasive computing: “There will be a new level of influence of computers in our lives, with microprocessors in literally every object we interact with.”
Grid computing: “If you start with the premise that we are using only a fraction of our computers' abilities, then think of what we could do if our computers were connected, with shared software.”
Nanotechnology: “The federal government is pouring money into this new form of science and engineering at the atomic scale.”
Life sciences: “This goes beyond traditional medical science to understanding the genome and what influence we can have on life itself.”
A number of factors could prevent us from taking advantage of these waves of change, he said, with a lack of skills being a big one. Although New York State is generating the intellectual capital to catch these waves, its challenge is to retain top technical talent.
“There are going to be tens of thousands of job openings in information technology,” he said. “We must improve our core math and science programs, beginning in our elementary schools, and we must create the partnerships that can overcome the nationwide decline in electrical engineering programs.”
A conference sampler
Panelists at the College's two-day conference on the upstate economy represented cites and colleges both big and small. Here is a sampling of their comments:
Lois DeFleur, president,
State University of New York
at Binghamton:
Each of us, depending on the character of our schools, needs to find where we intersect with the needs of the surrounding area. The Southern Tier, for example, is making the transition to mid-sized and even smaller companies. Our university tries to provide the intellectual capital by training hundreds of mid-level managers at the entrepreneurial center in our school of management.
Christopher Dahl, president, State University College
at Geneseo:
I think we need to remember that economic development is not just catching the waves of technology, but also seeing what we can do to improve civic life in our communities. I think that means as educators we teach our students the pleasures of civic engagement, and as institutions we are available as partners to share our expertise.
Debbie Sydow, president, Onondaga Community
College, Syracuse:
When I was in Virginia and considering this job, I found the Syracuse website focusing on lousy weather and high taxes. That kind of inferiority complex by long-time residents is very discouraging
to outsiders.
Gerald Jennings, mayor,
city of Albany:
We need to put together a public school program that colleges and universities like. We want you involved in our public schools. I think you can use your expertise to evaluate what is being taught in our schools. We need to shift gears; we're throwing money at schools, and I don't see the improvements we need.
Roger Hull, president,
Union College:
I like to talk in terms of “yesable” propositions, and while I accept the proposition that we need well-prepared students, I wonder how “yesable” it is for us to try to affect that. Do we really think that colleges are going to change the economic outlook by changing the public schools? I don't think that's realistic. Colleges should not be trying to dictate, but should be working with others to find the “yesable” propositions.
Albert Simone, president, Rochester Institute
of Technology:
About half of our graduates find jobs outside New York State. One reason is a lack of awareness of the opportunities at small and medium-sized firms. To counter that, the placement directors at the twenty colleges in the Rochester area meet once a month with leaders of small and medium-sized companies. We're trying to create access for these companies, which can't afford to send teams of recruiters to college after college.
Kelly Lovell, president, the Center for Economic Growth
The quality of life argument appeals to married couples with children, not to young, single people. What's missing for them is the coolness factor. Young people want loft living, they want to walk to work, they want revitalized waterfronts. Look at all our coffee shops-they're to-go. There are no places to hang out.
Kenneth Shaw, chancellor, Syracuse University:
My experience is that when you really find a winner, a big component is finding something where everyone's self interest benefits.
Bela Musits, managing director, High Peaks Venture Partners:
This is a good area for starting companies; we have more than 300 software companies in the Capital Region alone. But early-stage companies are high maintenance, and we have a void of early-stage venture capital.
Upstate Partners Roundtable Starts
One of the first orders
of business after the
conclusion of the two-
day conference was to
create a group that will continue to look at ways of strengthening the
relationship among upstate colleges, communities, and businesses.
In addition to President Hull, the Upstate Partners Roundtable will include:
-
Dean Fuleihan, secretary, Office of Assembly Ways and Means
- Joel Giambra, county executive of Erie County (the Buffalo area)
- Gerald Jennings, mayor of Albany
- John E. Kelly III '76, senior vice president and technology group executive, IBM
- Abraham Lackman, special advisor to the majority leader/secretary to the Senate Finance Committee
- Mark Little, vice president energy products, GE Power Systems
-
Neil Murphy, president,
SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry - Albert Simone, president, Rochester Institute of Technology
The group will examine such ideas as creating a public and private higher education Internet-accessible database.