Kentucky Has Much Ground to Make Up in Tech Race – How’s your state doing?

Kentucky’s low ranking in home computer and Internet access and its share of high-tech business needs improvement, according to Brian Mefford, president and CEO of the ConnectKentucky and the Center for Technology Enterprise Inc.

By:
Christopher Miller
Bowling Green Daily News

http://www.nasvf.org/web/allpress.nsf/pages/9584

Kentuckians ranked 43rd nationally for households with Internet access, with 44.2 percent, and 45th in households that have computers, with 49.8 percent, according to the state High-Tech Economies and Residential Technology Adoption study released by ConnectKentucky this month.

"It’s unacceptable and it can be dramatically improved with some highly focused efforts," Mefford said. "Dr. Thomas Clark, Kentucky’s foremost historian …, recently said that the central question in assuring a brighter future for Kentucky is the wise investments in preparing its people to be capable and adaptable in a demanding technological age. This calls for wise and courageous leadership to recognize this fact."

Mefford also pointed out that at 100-plus years old, Thomas’ acknowledgment on technology’s importance is significant.

Home Internet access is important because it fuels interest in computers, Mefford said.

"It’s about more than searching Google or e-mailing pictures to Grandma," Mefford said. "Household computers and Internet use ties back to a community’s ability to provide a highly adaptable work force. The skills that our children begin developing when they’re using computers at home are skills that will be transferable to the work place.

"By dramatically improving household technology use, we will create a culture that is attractive to new companies and is fertile for entrepreneurial growth."

As an example of how technological familiarity pays off in careers, national news reports this year said that highly developed hand-eye coordination of videogame players is advantageous for precision surgical tasks such as arthroscopic surgery.

Household high-speed Internet access is a great equalizer, Mefford said. People who can access the Internet at home can improve their homework assignments, research ways to improve medical conditions, work a second job after the kids have gone to bed and communicate with people all over the world.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher has challenged ConnectKentucky to support his efforts to increase computers use and access to broadband technologies and to improve its standing relative to competing states, Mefford said. Right now, businesses, universities and community leaders across Kentucky are providing feedback on the best ways to implement an aggressive plan.

Soon after his election, Fletcher installed broadband Internet access into the governor’s mansion.

Kentucky ranks 44th in the nation of businesses considered high-tech, with 3.9 percent, the study said. Among states that compete with Kentucky for jobs, Ohio ranked 23rd with 5.4 percent, Michigan ranked 20th with 5.6 percent and North Carolina ranked 24th with 5.3 percent.

"It’s important to note that most companies and industries are becoming high-tech," Mefford said. "They require computer-savvy workers, they use broadband Internet to transfer information electronically and they purchase online. Magna (Bowling Green Metalforming) represents a perfect example of a traditionally low-tech industry that is now very much high-tech. Advanced auto manufacturers use computerized robotics on the shop floor and workers must be capable of adapting to the updated technology that improves the company’s efficiency. In their administrative offices, data and information will constantly flow over the Internet between Bowling Green and other offices around the world.

"From the office to the line, workers must be comfortable with using technology."

Mefford said leadership in Warren County was visionary in understanding this when the Kentucky TriModal Transpark was planned with a centralized training center. A company will be able to use the center to train workers on the latest technology before it is installed in the factory.

"It’s called training-on-demand," Mefford said. "It is this type of technology amenity that will attract companies in the future."

Such technology intensive companies regularly invest in their employees, and are less susceptible to pulling out on claims that their labor costs are too high, Mefford said.

In a bright note, Kentucky ranks respectably in the nation in terms of providing digital government, according to Lee Thompkins, general manager for Kentucky.gov.

There are more than 100 governmental services online for constituents and businesses, allowing Kentuckians to interact with state government at times that are convenient to them from their home computers, instead of during the regular work hours, Thompkins said.

Usage of government Web sites has seen steady growth, he said.

But even after the government put up the online service, people don’t necessarily flock to them, he said.

"The reality is you must put the service up, promote it, get feedback from constituents," Thompkins said. Kentucky.gov’s mission, directed by Mike Inman, commissioner of technology for Kentucky, is to promote e-goverment.

Expansion of Internet and technology use is imperative to the changes that are occurring culturally in society, Thompkins said. In agriculture, a combine can be equipped with a global positioning satellite system and a laptop computer to chart its location in a field.

"Technology is interwoven into our lives in about everything we do," he said.