South Dakota Governor Sets Aggressive Targets In 7-year Economic Development Plan

In 2010, the end of Gov. Mike Round’s second term – should South Dakota voters choose to grant him one – residents of the state will have several precise ways to measure whether or not he delivered on his economic development goals. Gov. Round’s 2010 Initiative, released Oct. 15 at Mount Rushmore, is built on a few, very specific and quantifiable goals in tourism revenues, entrepreneurship, and R&D. They include:

* Improving the state’s ranking to at least 30th nationally for funding from the National Science Foundation (in FY 2000, the state ranked 48th);

* Doubling visitor spending from $600 million to $1.2 billion;

* Promoting the creation and development of new businesses that will contribute $6 billion to the Gross State Product (for comparison, South Dakota’s total GSP grew by $6 billion for the seven-year "boom" period of 1995-2001); and,

* Assisting in the growth and expansion of existing South Dakota businesses to add an additional $4 billion to GSP.

Each goal is accompanied by several specific action items for the newly formed Department of Tourism and State Development to undertake. For example, to help South Dakota "become a recognized leader in research and technology development by 2010," the state will create a research and development and tech transfer office in cooperation with the Board of Regents and the private sector, encourage the formation of tech centers and incubators, further develop university research niches, and coordinate cooperative public-private research partnerships.

Committed top-level leadership has proven to be a critical component of sustained success in tech-based economic development. Buy-in from a broad base of affected parties also is important for success. As elements of the plan were derived by engaging residents around the state in dialogues at four regional summits held in August and September, it appears South Dakotans are ready to embrace the effort with their governor.

More information on the 2010 Initiative is available at: http://www.2010initiative.com/

SSTI Weekly Digest
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