Getting on the high road

by: el cabrero

Fri Jul 13, 2007 at 12:26:54 PM EDT

A new study shows that West Virginia has the chance to develop a high-tech, high road economy. This is from an item by Joe Morris in today's Gazette:

A new independent study of West Virginia’s economy concludes that the state could become a leading market in high-tech industries such as pharmaceuticals, biometrics and cutting-edge energy products — with the right investment.

The research was carried out for A Vision Shared, a business coalition focused on economic development, by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Science and Technology International.

And public investments in infrastructure, higher education, and workforce development are key. The article cites  Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of A Vision Shared’s Technology-Based Economic Development committee, who said that public institutions like WVU and Marshall University can be springboards of this kind of development.

The state can’t rely on the market alone to foster high-tech industry, DiGregorio said.

“It hasn’t happened,” he said. “The experience of people who do technology-based economic development in the states is that to be successful you have to bring in coordinated help.”

Here's hoping we take the high road.

(And don't forget to visit The Goat Rope).