July 20, 1999
Gov. Bill Graves, two university leaders and the chief executive officers of nine major corporations will attend the daylong conference on Oct. 22 to discuss strategies to strengthen the state's economy through innovation.
The conference is a forum for representatives of the university, government and the business community to consider factors affecting economic development in the state.
They will hear from the president of the national Council on Competitiveness, which promotes economic development through innovation. The council's Innovation Index identifies the critical resources and policies that drive innovation, such as research and development funding and the ability to turn the results into new products and improved production processes. The Innovation Index projects that if current policy and investment trends in the U.S. don't change, America could lose its status as the world's preeminent innovator.
"An innovative environment is one in which the United States is able to successfully develop and commercialize new technologies, products and processes," said Michael Porter, C. Roland Christensen professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and co-author of the Innovation Index. "Yet investment in our innovative capacity has slowed, and current policy commitments and rates of reinvestment may not be high enough to sustain future improvements in our standard of living."
The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, along with KU's Institute for Public Policy and Business Research, has published the "Kansas Innovation Index." This report concludes that while the state is well positioned to be competitive, thanks to a base of high-growth and high-wage industries, it must strengthen several areas. For example, business and university spending on research is too low and there is a lack of available venture capital in the state, said Richard A. Bendis, president and CEO of KTEC.
"We must develop strategies for a new innovation economy," said Charles E. Krider, director of KU's Institute for Public Policy and Business Research and project director of the Kansas Innovation Index. "Through the collaboration of government and industry leaders, we can learn what opportunities await us and what problems we must address." KU Provost David Shulenburger will welcome the participants and address the focus of the conference.
Panelists will discuss emerging markets for Kansas and what forces drive the state's economic performance. During each session, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.
David M. Jones, chief economist and vice chairman for Aubrey G. Lanston, a New York securities company, and a frequent commentator on national financial TV network shows, will give a forecast for the 2000 international and national economy. Norman Clifford, director of forecasting for KU's Institute for Public Policy and Business Research, will present his annual Kansas economic forecast for the coming year.
Major speakers and panelists for the conference include:
The moderators are Gary Sherrer, lieutenant governor and state secretary of commerce and housing, Krider and Bendis.
Conference registration fee is $95, which includes lunch, a parking pass and conference materials. The materials include copies of two publications, "The New Challenges to America's Prosperity: Findings from the Innovation Index," published by the Council on Competitiveness, and the "Kansas Innovation Index, 1999," published by KTEC.
For more information about registration, contact Pat Flory at (785) 864-4790.
The University of Kansas and its Institute for Public Policy and Business Research has offered an annual economic outlook conference for the state for 23 years. This year's conference was enhanced by the sponsorship and involvement of Gov. Bill Graves.
Background on the Council on Competitiveness.
The Washington, D.C.-based council promotes a national debate on competitiveness by concentrating on a few critical issues, including technological innovation, workforce development and the benchmarking of U.S. economic performance against other countries. Members and council staff work together to assemble data, develop consensus-based recommendations and implement follow-up strategies in every region of the country. A 30-member executive committee guides the council. Chief executives from 50 of the country's most prominent nonprofit research organizations, professional societies and trade associations contribute their expertise as national affiliates of the council. For more information, see its Web site at http://www.compete.org/.
Background on John N. Yochelson, keynote speaker
John N. Yochelson has been president of the Council on Competitiveness, a non-partisan forum of chief executives from the business, university and labor communities working to sustain U.S. economic leadership, since December 1995. Previously, he was president of the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation and a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Before his work at CSIS, he spent three years at the Department of State.
He was a research fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University and at the Brookings Institution. He has been a consultant to the Joint Economic Committee of the U. S. Congress and a collaborator of the late Jean Monnet. President Bush appointed Yochelson to the President's Export Council, and he also served as a member of the Department of State's Advisory Committee on International Investment. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a master's of public administration degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a bachelor's degree from Yale University.
Background on the Innovation Index:
The Innovation Index uses a new set of quantitative measures as an objective benchmark of a nation's potential to sustain productivity; growth and competitiveness for the long term. The measures employed in the index are:
The council's "The New Challenge to America's Prosperity: Findings from the Innovation Index Report" concludes that the United States is not laying the foundation for long-term success. The report was written by the council with Michael Porter, C. Roland Christensen professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and Scott Stern of the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Background on the Kansas Innovation Index:
The 56-page Kansas Innovation Index was published in December 1998. It identifies the Kansas "innovation economy" and assesses how well the state is positioned compared to the rest of the nation and the region. Innovation economy refers to the state's ability to generate new ideas through research and the ability to use those ideas to create new products and improved production processes. The report concludes that while Kansas is "not the leading state with respect to innovation, Kansas has a base of industries that can become the foundation for growth."
"The state's universities have an important research base and the Kansas state government is providing more support per capita for research and development than any other state," the report said.
However, the report said business and university spending on research is too low for the state to be a national leader in innovation. Other weaknesses are in the area of obtaining patents, competing for federal research and development, and the lack of enough venture capital to support turning research into commercial products at the necessary rate.
Contact: Todd Cohen, University Relations, (785) 864-8858