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Tall Order
DECD head Abromaitis is at the helm of a new vehicle for economic development
Former UConn and professional basketball player James F. Abromaitis is commissioner of the state's Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD). Last month he reported to Gov. John G. Rowland the recommendations of the Industry Cluster Initiative.
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Business New Haven
3/9/1998
By: BNH
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Where did the cluster initiative come from?
It involves a whole new way of looking at economic development. Traditional economic development comes from two angles: company-by-company assistance; and other side is what the state would like to do for businesses. The idea behind clusters is to identify the industries with potential for growth and retention, and to address their needs as industries, as opposed to single companies.
So what are the clusters?
Originally there were six: manufacturing, high technology, telecommunications and information, financial services, health services and tourism. Of those six, five actually made it. Tourism kind of has its own cluster initiative up and running. So we recruited about 100 business people from those five industries, and put them together [by industry]. These five advisory boards were given the charge of identifying the impediments to doing business in their industries in Connecticut. We gave them 100 days to come up with initial ideas of issues we could address. When we added it all up, we found there were issues that were cross-cutting, issues such as workforce development, infrastructure, capital. This is really industry-driven - as opposed to the past, when the state would say, 'This is what we're going to do for you.' This is the industry saying, 'This is what the state as well as we as an industry need to do to make Connecticut a competitive environment for growth in these particular industries.' That's actually the title of the report: Partnership for Growth: Connecticut's Economic Competitiveness Strategy.
What's an example of a recommendation that cut across industry lines?
One that's near and dear to you folks in New Haven is biotech recommendations. As part of the whole initiative, we understand that many of the clusters that were identified originally need to be - and I hate to use the word - 'sub-clustered.' Biotechnology and biomedicine are one of them, and we had a strong group of people who were willing to step up to the plate and initiate this whole cluster. And their whole issue is the issue of laboratory space - the cost of putting laboratory space together and the ability to attract the right kinds of businesses to incubate in those spaces. We've got four major pharmaceutical firms in the state that should fit nicely with these kinds of businesses sprouting up.
Were there recommendations coming out of, say, a different cluster that might not have gotten as much attention?
Let me go to a manufacturing one that can have a fairly quick impact, and that's developing a world-class manufacturing resource center. There's an organization in New Britain called ConnSTEP [Connecticut State Technical Extention Program], and they identified ConnSTEP as possibly being the base for the type of manufacturing resource center that they thought was necessary in Connecticut. So they studied it, studied other states that have these types of centers, to find out what components they needed to have in order to be an effective resource center. And they came back with a recommendation that the whole focus of the center should be toward lean manufacturing, and how we can beef up the existing center with the proper finding and the proper industry guidance.
Is the cluster initiative focused on new businesses, recruiting existing businesses from outside the state to come here, or growing businesses that are already here?
It's all of the above. It's an opportunity for the companies that are here to share among themselves what it takes to be successful in those industries. Also, once you have a firm commitment to this initiative, the word will get out and it becomes a marketing tool for us to make sure that the rest of the industry outside of Connecticut understands that there is a commitment to these industries. And that becomes a recruiting tool.
These groups seem awfully broad. Are there any industries not included in them?
It's a little bit of taking what you have, but it doesn't include everything. Construction, for instance, is not represented as a cluster, although they obviously grow with everything else - and recede with everything else on the other end. Also, a lot of those service industries that rely on the growth of the base industries.
At a meeting of the Connecticut Economic Conference Board in January, a economists told state officials they ought to get out of the business of picking winners and losers, and should instead simply 'cut costs and get out of the way.'
Actually, it plays right into that. We're relying on these industries to identify themselves, and our intent through the cluster initiative is to support them as they develop their networks, as well as identifying other businesses in those industries, [to] get them all in the same room and on the same page. We see our role as strictly facilitators, and we needed a base to start with, which is why those groups were identified. [For example], biotech identified itself, defined its needs, put the right leaders together to put up a plan to address their needs. We expect other industries will do the same.
During the discussions leading up to this initiative, what were some of the economic-development issues that cut across industry boundaries?
Workforce development is probably the No. 1 issue. We've got companies that are begging for trained workers, and the issue here [at DECD] is what we can do to assist in that process. What's gone on in the past has been, 'Here's the product we put out' - in terms of a trained individual - 'and let the companies figure out how to use that individual.' Now, the idea is to allow industries to have more input into the curriculum of those training programs, which will hopefully result in a trained individual who not only can fill a position that's available today, but will have the ability to grow with those positions.
A lot of companies feel that they're completing the education of students when they hire them, and they would like to see some recognition of the costs they incur in doing so. Is there any discussion of reimbursing private companies for training?
In the case of the vocational-technical schools, a recommendation has come forward that pertains to manufacturing. There's a desire to use the voc-tech system the way it was originally designed, which is to get people interested in the manufacturing professions, how to market that and have students going into high schools investigate manufacturing. We're looking at creating an organization called 'Workforce Inc.,' and we're looking at how other states have put together quasi-public organizations that would address how federal dollars flow into the state for training needs. Are we getting the dollars to the right people at the right time with the right kind of training? We want to compare theirs to ours, and if there's a better way of doing it, let's investigate it.
Do we have an urban brownfields policy in Connecticut to help get jobs closer to people who need them?
There's a current bill being presented to clean up brownfields, not only in urban centers. Those are opportunities we need to take advantage of. There a lot of infrastructure in some of these places, and the goal is to get sites remediated so we can put in the right kind of entity - business or otherwise. So I think you'll see more of that.
How does the cluster initiative address urban economic development?
For example, the issue of enterprise zones: The group wants to take a look at the enterprise zone programs to see if they're really doing what they're intended to do.
What's your gut feeling?
To some degree they are. To some degrees we need to address, for example, what types of businesses can utilize enterprise zones. Would you have a preference if the bottom line was the same, but the industry [started in an enterprise zone] were a different industry than originally intended? Personally, I'd like to see the jobs, and perhaps be less restrictive on the types of businesses that can utilize an enterprise zone.
What can be done to grow more small businesses?
The whole idea of the cluster initiative was to focus on small and medium-sized companies and to make sure there is a level playing field for them in terms of competitiveness. If we can make this a competitive place - regardless of industry - we have a chance, based on the other things we have going for us, such as geography and quality of life, to make Connecticut a very desirable place for businesses.
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