If you are riding a horse and it dies, get off

Washington Irving said “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.” I love that statement and have come to view it as telling of the tech environment not only in Boise, but in Idaho and to my dismay just the other day, Oregon. Over the past several weeks, I have found myself shifting and getting new bruises. I have been involved in conversations, discussions and meetings that sent me into a time warp - back to 2004 when I was in the Office of Science and Technology. The fact that it is three years later and the same conversations are taking place is incredible to me (and not in a good way). The market doesn’t stand still. Why should public policy?

I sat down with Dr. Heike Mayer and discussed the tech economy in Boise (and Idaho) following her initial presentation on the ‘2nd Tier’ places. We have mutual friends and colleagues in Oregon, so naturally, our conversation turned into a comparison and contrast of the two Pacific Northwest States. As she hasn’t been involved in the tech-based economic development space in Oregon for a few years, she was interested to learn about the progress made with the Oregon Innovation Council, Oregon Inc, (the successor to the Oregon Council for Knowledge and Economic Development), both ’sister’ organizations to the Science and Technology Advisory Council here.

When I left Idaho to do the same job in Oregon, I did so for specific reasons. In Oregon, they were willing to take risks and think outside the box. They were willing to ‘go down in flames’. They had leadership, passion and vision - not only in the public sector but also in the private sector. The policies that we designed, were championed by someone within the economic development agency - she carried and delivered the message to the Governor, other affected and interested agencies and the Legislature. We armed the private sector with information on policies and programs in other states and helped them ‘tell their story’ to the general public and the Legislature. We sought their buy-in and input on policies and programs that were often hybrids of those in other states. We were two people, inside an agency that did not go out of its way to help. We had the support of the Governor and his right arm/legal counsel. When Oregon Inc, debuted in October 2005, it hit the ground running - with less than a year to come up with a state strategic plan, private sector leadership and representation from traditional as well as ‘tech’ industries. Government did not drive it, the recommendations that came forward were from the market, from the private sector. The private sector went out, with help from others in state government, started a dialogue and gathered information. The result was the state plan and recommendations that went before the Legislature this year. One of the most impressive things to me, during my stint in Oregon, was that we could call on individuals, and, within the time it would take them to get to Salem, they’d be there - to testify before the Legislature as to why their company would benefit from the particular piece of legislation and/or show support. Yes, we did provide them with words that generally explained ROI or impact, but they supplied the vision and the passion because, at the end of the day, its about their company and the revenue that they generate.

I discovered this week, that our ‘tried and true’ method for moving the innovation agenda forward in Oregon has been circumvented by state government. They decided that they didn’t need the help to move the agenda and, rather than continue the path that we forged, to lump everything together and deliver one economic development package to the Legislature. The result? Not good. Much of the work appears to be for naught and the programs and policies are currently less than half what was proposed.

So, the devil REALLY is in the details.

Idaho just received word of another detail for the innovation economy with Governor Otter’s appointment of James Ellick as the head of the Department of Commerce, effective July 1. He is an unknown in the state, which in my opinion, is positive. His private sector background is tech - also a positive. He has the opportunity, in his role as Director, to assist Idaho stake its claim in the global economy of the 21st century. While I recognize the need to ‘kumbaya’ with everyone (service providers, stake holders, government, universities, the Idaho National Lab, etc), I hope that under Ellick’s reign, we can return to the Idaho before statehood - where the environment is one of visions and dreams, where risk taking is not taboo, where public funds are nice but not the reason (nor a necessity) for pursuing action, where we reject the status quo, and where we let the market work its magic. We’ve ridden the horse for awhile - at least in this race, since 1999/2000. We have a new horse in Ellick (if he’ll pardon the illustration). I hope, with his arrival in July, he is given reign to run.

If we get that, the bruises might be worth it.

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