ARIZONA READY TO CATCH THE NEXT BIG TECHNOLOGY WAVE

Arizona has all the right ingredients to lead key emerging “sustainable systems” industries of the future.   “Sustainable” industries and products meet the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Arizona Department of Commerce and the Arizona Board of Regents today released a plan to focus existing Arizona university research and development strengths in sustainable systems in the creation of new products, services, markets and jobs.

According to Dr. Adrian Roberts with the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, Principle Investigator for the Development and Investment Prospectus to Create A Sustainable Systems Industry in Arizona, Arizona has a great opportunity.  “We could not find another university system in the US with the strength Arizona has in sustainable systems. You’d have to combine universities from Idaho, Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Lab to match it.”

The report envisions Arizona becoming a model, international center for “arid lands livability,” building on existing industry and university strengths, in three key areas:

• Water management, from source to sink and back again
• Harnessing the sun for food, fuel, power and medicine
• Sustainable manufacturing and knowledge-based renewable industries based on natural resources such as forests, agriculture and waste products

The primary industry sectors represented in these strategies are pollution prevention/recycling, renewable energy, energy efficiency, green construction materials, high-value bio products, and environmental services/equipment including water technologies.

According to Gilbert Jimenez, Director of the Arizona Department of Commerce, the basic elements for a sustainable economy already exist in Arizona. “These include strong university research programs; a receptive industry; state, tribal and local governments concerned and willing to do something about water, energy, forests and land; active non-profits engaged in policy development; as well as numerous favorable climate and geographic factors. The next steps are to work with industry and the universities to create and implement the organizational and management structures needed for success.”

In addition to university expertise and research, Arizona is home to many companies – particularly in the semi conductor industry - that practice sustainability, in pursuit of economic prosperity for the business, social well-being for employees and the community, and environmental protection and resource conservation.

“Building sustainable industry sectors is a long-term proposition,” says Wendy Vittori, Co-Chair of the project Steering Committee and Vice President of the Motorola Computer Group based in Tempe. “Although these industries are growing rapidly, we’re at least ten years away from seeing the full impact of this technology wave. This project is very forward thinking, and it will need vision and leadership to make it reality.”

“This study is valuable as the Board evaluates past and present uses of funding authorized by the voters in 1998 for university research,” says Board of Regents Director Linda Blessing. “It helps us focus clearly on areas that will result in the best and highest use of these funds.”

Jointly commissioned by the Arizona Department of Commerce and the Arizona Board of Regents, the Prospectus follows an earlier study indicating Arizona’s university system has world-class research and development competence in the areas of biosciences, advanced communications and information technology, and a broad group of ecological sciences that provide the innovation platform for sustainable systems.

The Prospectus is part of the Statewide Economic Study underway through the Arizona Department of Commerce.  Companion projects resulting from the earlier Science and Technology Core Competencies Assessment include a forthcoming roadmap on advanced communications and information technology, also a joint effort of the Commerce Department and the Arizona Board of Regents; and the Biosciences Roadmap sponsored by the Flinn Foundation (http://www.flinn.org).

For more information on the Prospectus and the Core Competencies Assessment, visit the Arizona Department of Commerce website at http://edit.azcommerce.com/SiteSel/Reports/.