Idaho higher ed crucial to tech industry growth

Tech businesses rely on ideas, talent nurtured at universities to create economic momentum

Wanted: Acoustical engineers, radio frequency engineers, cellular biologists, physicists with metallurgical experience.

The wish list of area technology firms goes on and on.

By Gerry Melendez / The Idaho Statesman

There are plenty of unemployed technology workers in Idaho looking for jobs, but are Idaho technology companies interested?

Or are they skipping over out-of-work locals and seeking higher skills from out-of-staters?

A random survey of about a dozen high-tech firms in the state found:

• Of the last 10 employees hired, few had degrees from Idaho universities, and most were hired from out-of-state.

• Most firms said more specialized technical degree programs are needed at Idaho universities.

• Most said they would be hiring more workers through the remainder of 2003 and 2004, with some saying those hires also are likely to come from outside Idaho.

Industry members point to two reasons: a need for higher-level skills from Idaho universities, and a larger critical mass of technology companies in the state to bolster the labor pool of experienced workers.

And that creates a chicken-or-the-egg debate.

Some say it takes a strong research university to build the talent that in turn strengthens a region´s technology indus-

try. Others say a robust technology industry must be in place before the state universities can evolve.

Few will argue that strong technology centers are almost always paired up with nearby research universities — ones that put considerable emphasis on graduate programs and support special projects by faculty. One just needs to look at the Silicon Valley´s Stanford University, the University of Texas in Austin, and Route 128´s Harvard and MIT.

Are Idaho´s universities up to the task?

Idaho has already had a glimpse of what a burgeoning technology industry can do for its economy. High-tech employees tend to earn nearly twice as much, on average, as non-tech workers, adding to the state´s tax base and pumping more discretionary income into the economy.

With the state´s economy finally seeing signs of recovery, will Idaho´s technology industry rebound as well?

And what role will the state´s educational system need to play in that rebound?

Universities create workers and companies

Strong research universities serve two purposes:

• They produce better students. Top-level universities attract top-level faculty and students, and in turn produce students with advanced technical degrees who can be employed by Idaho technology firms.

• They assist the industry. Technology companies are often spun off by research projects and started by students, locating nearby. In addition, university researchers often partner with area businesses, doing research projects for them to offer students real-world experience.

While the first purpose is often cited, that second purpose is more important to a regional economy, says Lyman Frost, director of technology transfer and commercialization at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory near Idaho Falls.

The university that races fastest and best in the technology race — attracting top faculty and students, developing new technology degree programs — will more likely be at the center of entrepreneurialism.

“Several years back, Stanford University concentrated its efforts on turning its own technology into businesses,” said Frost. “They formed a nearby business incubator park, and that was sort of the genesis of the whole Silicon Valley movement.

“A number of things had to be in place for that to happen, but the ability of a university to do world-class research and then convert it into something usable by the economy is key to long-term development of a science and technology industry.”

Frost isn´t sure it will be the state-funded universities that will take on that mission.

Instead, he believes Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg in Eastern Idaho could be in line to win that race.

“They´re becoming very innovative and the potential exists there,” said Frost. “They have been very cooperative in working with us here at the national lab, and we´ve found them to be forward- looking. And they have some very good people there.”

That, of course, is flattering to Mark Nygren, director of entrepreneurial programs at BYU-Idaho, whose students often partner with INEEL workers on projects.

“We´re privately funded, and I think that certainly gives us the opportunity to be more innovative and creative in our approaches,” said Nygren, explaining that the young school has no graduate programs and focuses more on training students to be employable after graduation rather than for graduate school. “Our whole educational program is different from the state colleges.”

That means while the school has programs similar to those at BSU, the University of Idaho and Idaho State University in terms of industry partnerships, internships and entrepreneur lectures, BYU-Idaho has taken a lead role in allowing hybrid degrees.

BYU-Idaho, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has more than 10,000 full-time students and expects an enrollment of more than 14,000 by the 2005-06 school year.

“All our majors are integrated with other disciplines,” said Nygren. “What´s important is that whether they´re in engineering or the arts, they embrace the spirit of entrepreneurship. We want them to be risk-takers and embrace change.”

Cheryl Schrader, BSU´s new dean of the College of Engineering, said BSU needs to be the university that steps forward to be the Idaho equivalent of Silicon Valley´s Stanford University.

“That´s exactly what BSU needs to be,” said Schrader. “Boise State is the metro university and with that comes an obligation to provide an access and service to the community.”

BSU already has a history of industry partnerships, which it continues to expand, said Schrader. And, she added, the administration there is well aware of the importance of growing its engineering school.

“The president of the university knows it´s the College of Engineering that could have the greatest impact on the community,” she said. “So I´m not just saying ´be patient, it´ll come,´ I´m saying there´s a lot happening here now — and quite a bit of potential.”

Opinion 1: Idaho needs stronger tech industry

Perhaps it´s a mistaken premise that Idaho universities should provide a hefty percentage of the technical workforce for in-state employers.

Steve Penoncello doesn´t think so.

Associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Engineering at the University of Idaho, Penoncello looks at this from a different perspective.

He believes strong technology centers breed strong universities.

“I believe it´s very important, but one reason we can´t keep Idaho students here is there´s not enough industry here,” said Penoncello. “It´s absolutely crucial our grads stay in Idaho and work for Idaho companies. I don´t believe those opportunities are out there now.”

And what about all those jobs going to out-of-state workers?

Penoncello says those firms aren´t looking for entry-level employees fresh from graduation day, but rather experienced technology workers.

“As I´ve talked to recent grads, the frustration I´m hearing is that the jobs here require experience and how do they get that valuable experience?” said Penoncello. “Usually it´s big firms from mainly outside the state coming here looking for entry-level workers. And once our students leave the state, do they ever find their way back? That´s a good question.”

There´s an ecosystem of sorts involved in building a technology center, and strong universities are just one part.

Each component — from a skilled and diverse workforce to an entrepreneurial culture to funding opportunities — needs to evolve and grow in tandem with the others.

Penoncello says when talking about what needs to come first, it´s a chicken-or-the-egg type of discussion.

Shikhar Sarin, an associate marketing professor at BSU who specializes in the high-tech industry, says no matter how you look at it, the universities need to play a stronger role.

“The higher education system in Idaho isn´t particularly up to par, in my opinion,” said Sarin. “Having high-powered universities is almost a precondition to having a solid technology industry. Unfortunately, in Idaho, we do not have that.”

Sarin is frank in his assessment of the flaws in the system.

“Higher education is a low priority area here — it´s not even on the radar screen for the Legislature,” said Sarin. “It´s highly politicized with regional interests, partisan interests and institutional interests which take priority over state interests. And the universities themselves have failed to engage with the private sector successfully on a consistent basis.”

Sarin, who left an endowed chair position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York for the position at BSU, said more funding — either private or public — is needed to attract top faculty.

“There are efforts to improve things, but the universities are hampered by resource constraints,” said Sarin. “The universities need to be treated as an investment in the future of the state instead of a cost center.”

But meeting the needs of local industry must be balanced with providing opportunities to all students, said John Gardner, chairman of BSU´s departments of electrical and mechanical engineering.

He adds that pinning the hopes of Idaho´s technology future on its universities is a heavy and inappropriate burden.

“Government funding is not going to make the next Micron — it´s going to be the people inventing in the garage,” said Gardner. “We´re not job training here. We´re offering a broad-based education.”

Opinion 2: Idaho needs more academic focus

Mark Jones doesn´t believe Idaho´s universities are doing a bad job.

But when he wants a top-level scientist at his medical instruments firm in Boise, he knows the best candidate for the job won´t have a technical degree from Idaho — and likely won´t even be living in the state.

“The last two scientists we hired came from Tulane University,” said Jones, director of research instruments for Sapidyne Instruments Inc., which makes testing equipment for drug manufacturers.

“Our customers do want to talk to Ph.D.-level sales people,” he said. “They want them to understand what they´re selling and what they´re working on.”

About 25 percent of Sapidyne employees were hired locally, said Jones, but not having other biotech firms — or universities focused on biotechnology — makes hiring difficult.

The firm primarily looks for workers with degrees and experience in biophysics or molecular biology and with an understanding of biological binding.

“If we had more of a pool to choose from here, it would make recruiting and hiring easier and less expensive,” he said. “It costs us $1,000 to bring someone in from out of state just to interview, and then the actual hiring package to move them out here gets even more expensive.”

At ProClarity Corp., one of Boise´s largest software firms, the lack of a skilled local labor pool frequently sends the company on recruitment missions outside the state.

But ProClarity President and CEO Bob Lokken doesn´t believe universities here need to broaden their degree offerings. Instead, he advocates that the universities pick a few specialties.

“It´s depth of faculty, it´s focus,” said Lokken, who said his firm recruits mainly from Utah, Montana and Washington. “There´s no lack of programs. The universities just need to have continued support and get higher quality graduates out of their existing programs.

“I want them to focus on what they´re doing, but with two times the number of students coming out.”

But Lokken also mentions that it´s not necessarily college graduates ProClarity is looking to hire, but experienced technology workers, and like Sapidyne, it often finds a slim selection of talent in the Idaho work force.

“Where we have the most trouble finding people in Idaho is people who have a marketing and business background in the software industry,” said Lokken. “We pretty much have to go out of state to find those people.”

And like Sapidyne, ProClarity suffers from a lack of other similar technology firms in the region. While there are companies with workers skilled in technology hardware — from Micron Technology to Hewlett-Packard to MPC Computers — there aren´t nearly as many software or biotech firms.

And that leads back to that chicken-or-egg question: Does building stronger research universities promote technology growth, or does the buildup of a technology community provide the intellectual capital needed for a strong research community?

Like others, INEEL´s Frost believes the two need to work in tandem — but that the buildup of the technology industry here will have to happen first.

“We´ve got a case where there´s not a population base like other states, where you can spread the cost of these schools over a larger group,” said Frost.

“The way to get out of that trap is not to increase taxes, but to create a high-tech and industrial base that alleviates that burden.”

Once more tax revenue is available and allocated toward universities, then those universities can develop further, added U of I´s Penoncello.

“Our enrollment´s growing and in the College of Engineering, we´re experiencing good growth,” said Penoncello.

“We´re ready and waiting for industries to move in and boost the tax dollars coming in.”

http://www.idahostatesman.com/story.asp?ID=47575