Science

By JULIE A. DUTTON

High tech: some hard questions

THE USE of high technology — the commercial application of such areas as computer science, engineering and the physical and life sciences — has undergone such rapid growth in recent years that it has been called the second industrial revolution and has come to be viewed by many as an economic panacea. Here in Illinois, as in several other states, the potential for high technology development has received considerable attention and was the topic of two presentations at the Crossroads 82 conference at Sangamon State University October 14-15.

Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D., Chicago) cited numerous statistics to testify to the urgency of establishing high technology industries. The U.S. share of the world manufacturing market is down by one-fourth, said Currie in her luncheon speech, while one in five American workers is in an industry with an uncertain economic future. Currie feels at least one of the reasons for this is clear: "This country, over the last decade, has turned its back on basic scientific research and development." While Japan's basic research as a proportion of the gross national product has increased by 19 percent, here in the U.S. it has declined by 19 percent, according to Currie. The federal expenditures on research and development has "dropped precipitously" said Currie, by 38 percent.

She explained that if it is accepted that future industrial innovations are going to be in high technology, then it is essential to develop a partnership among government, academic research and industrial development that works to the advantage of the marketplace locally. Currie conceded that serious government budget problems may make it seem awkward to talk about rearranging priorities to foster such partnerships and to better accommodate basic science education, but she also insisted that "we can't afford not to."

Several of Currie's points were echoed in a panel presentation that followed her remarks.

Mike Woelffer, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, agreed that high tech industries are important in economic development in Illinois, but was more convinced than Currie that the state is actually doing something about it. Woelffer explained that part of the state's strategy to develop high tech industries is a campaign to inform those industries of the enticements of Illinois: extensive tax incentives (including no sales tax on manufacturing equipment, no inventory tax and reduced corporate and property tax); industrial training programs (in which the state pays up to 50 percent of employees' salaries for a given amount of time); and the rerouting of federal block grant money (from the traditional applications of public works and low income housing into such economic development projects as assisting an industry in updating its facilities).

The competition among states to attract high technology industry is intense, said Woelffer, who nonetheless thinks that "Illinois is competitive with any other state in the country."

But other speakers of the panel did not share this optimism. "The fact is, the state of Illinois, in spite of all our best effort, has lagged behind in the national race for high technology industry," said Edward Cohen, director of the Office of Research Development at the University of Illinois in Chicago. A recent survey showed that not one of the 100 fastest-growing companies is in Illinois, Cohen pointed out. He expressed further concern that the importance of academic centers is overlooked. Universities are paramount in the development of high tech industries, said Cohen, because they provide broad support through their skilled scientific personnel, libraries, elaborate equipment and instructional programs.

Cohen also noted that the Chicago-area alone is rich in such research institutions as the University of Illinois, Northwestern, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center — all of which offer programs in bioengineering, computer science, robotics and industrial engineering. While the growth potential in industrial research and development is tremendous, said Cohen, Illinois must act to realize that potential.

Richard Sames, professor of biology at Sangamon State University, stressed that it is important to have "a very strong investment in education, particularly now in science and technology." Illinois does not seem to have this priority, said Sames, as seen in the fact that half the teachers in science and math in elementary and secondary schools are not qualified, but are working on certificates.

State funding of research is dismal too, reported Sames, contrasting the $130,000 in research dollars that went to Northeastern Illinois University, a public university, in 1981 to the approximate $22 million for research that privately run Northwestern University had for that same year. It is important to realize, Sames emphasized, that "in order to keep a constant environment in the state for discovery and innovation, you have to support research in your institutions, and we haven't done that."

John Huther, deputy director of policy studies at the Illinois Board of Higher Education, also reiterated that academia must play a leading role in developing high technology potential in Illinois. "The 80s hold the prospect of being golden years again as state government turns to university help with economy problems," said Huther.

While Huther is encouraged by statistics that show Illinois ranking third among the states in production of doctoral engineers and fourth in production of both physical science and life science doctorates, he pointed out that this state still faces both a shortage of faculty to keep up with undergraduate demand and a loss of research expertise in higher education and industry (as many of these people relocate out of state).

How should Illinois proceed in its quest for high technology industry? Perhaps, Huther suggested, "more documentation of where we are now may be the most important first step toward becoming the prairie center for high techology."□

Julie A. Dutton is a research associate with the Illinois Legislative Council's science unit.

January 1983 | Illinois Issues | 29