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State economic
report targets high-tech
for 21st century

The manifesto outlines ideas
to stimulate growth

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

A new plan outlining the Cayetano administration's economic strategy for the 21st Century puts heavy emphasis on emerging technology, improved education, partnerships with private industry, and the growth of new industries in a global economy.

The "New Millennium Growth Strategy," authored by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, was to be distributed to legislators today as a prelude to measures to be introduced during the current session of the state Legislature.

"The new economy puts a premium on intellectual capacity and adaptive efficiency," said Gov. Ben Cayetano in the report.

Cayetano said the state government should play a leading role in stimulating the new economy.

Calling on flexibility and openness to new ideas, the 89-page report notes major trends opening new business opportunities to Hawaii, including the fast-growing high technology industry and world markets brought within reach by the Internet. Cayetano's new economy would move away from the old advantages of Hawaii's location and natural beauty to the tougher playing field of world competition.

It would, he said, be "an economy where risk, uncertainty and constant change are the rule rather than the exception."

Seiji Naya, director of DBEDT, notes in the report that Hawaii's post-statehood growth was fueled mainly by overseas investment and immigration with little contribution from new technology.

While the state's economy boomed, it lagged in productivity that technological advances brought to the nation's economy.

Among the report's highlights:

Technological advances have reduced Hawaii's geographic isolation, bringing new markets and suppliers within reach.
Special opportunities for Hawaii are likely in the area of biotechnology, aquaculture and medicine.
New markets in China present opportunities to Hawaii businesses.
Global warming will push Hawaii toward greater energy efficiency and could offer a role in developing solutions to deal with rising sea levels and other worldwide weather threats.
Hawaii's multi-ethnic community could foster new markets and ideas in a world increasingly constricted by ethnic strife.

A major challenge, Cayetano said, will be improving Hawaii's educational system to equip a future work force for higher demands.

"States must invest in and enhance world class education, training, research and development," he said. Cayetano said as other states, such as Maryland, gear up to take the lead in electronic commerce, Hawaii should rally its own advantages.

"With our cultural ties, economic relationships at both business and official levels, and our wide-band wireless networks, we can focus on technological developments in Asia-Pacific markets and their potential for trade, industry and commercialization," he said.

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http://www.hawaii.gov/