Here's a great series of questions from Carl Davis of Stellar System Technologies that should help us think about the Rochester area's ability to take a leadership role in several key industries:
Should Higher Education be our leading industry?
The University of Rochester is now our leading employer. The Simon School is a top business school. Rochester Institute of Technology is ranked with the top technological institutes in the country. St. John Fisher College and Nazereth College provide nationally ranked programs and continue to grow in popularity and programs. Monroe Community College provides tremendous support for the requests of area business to train our work force in needed disciplines for both new graduates and those upgrading their skill sets. We even have the beginnings of SUNY with the Brockport campus extension downtown. What a scorecard!
It looks like Rochester would benefit from doing everything it can, certainly in the city (SUNY Rochester?), to encourage significant growth in all of these educational institutions and make higher education a true industry for the area. Other cities have done the same and, while education is not their only industry, it provides significant growth by attracting a constant flow of students. More faculty positions means a better use of the local brain trust as well as an increase in that brain trust (and the tax base). Increased staff positions have the potential to replace the manufacturing jobs lost to more competitive regions.
What will the shakers and movers do to make Rochester an educational mecca thus providing the needed broad spectrum of employment opportunities for our area, not to mention feeding the already voracious appetite of entrepreneurs in the area?
New Technology-based lines of business
Outside the Biosciences and Alternative Energy (ethanol production and wind power generation) industries, what technology-based industries are being encouraged and grown in our area?
Advanced Technology based business development in our area
I applaud the efforts of many rainmakers in our area and highlight the successes by local business and our organizations to bring alternative energy and the biosciences to the forefront. My concern is that these are early stage development efforts in many cases (not all). What is being done to bring these efforts out of incubator/early stage business to provide employment for our well educated and experienced populace?
The ideas and questions Carl poses around making our region an "educational mecca" seem especially useful to me. His partial listing of the outstanding colleges and universities in and around Rochester also raised another question in my mind: how large is the Rochester region for purposes of this discussion? With Brockport in Monroe County and Geneseo and Alfred not far away, might we already have the makings of a SUNY campus in Rochester that could draw on the strengths of these schools and build stronger ties throughout the region? For that matter, would the region benefit from establishing a city campus affiliated with all of the area public and private schools?
Comments