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State Reports

Items listed under "State Documents" have been received by the Documents Unit, Illinois State Library, Springfield, and are usually available from public libraries in the state through interlibrary loan. Issuing agencies may have copies available.

State Documents

•Compete: Illinois Technology Extension Plan and Illinois: Technology Resources/or Modernization, Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, 620 E. Adams, S-6, Springfield 61701.

Just as it did in an earlier era with John Deere's plow and Cyrus McCormick's reaper, the state of Illinois is emerging once again as a leader in the world of technology. Many of the technological innovations are coming from the state's small- and medium-sized businesses that are trying to compete in a global economy. In 1993 DCCA and the Illinois Coalition, a private not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing the performance of the Illinois economy by focusing on science and technology, received federal funding for a project that seeks to determine what it would take to stimulate the state's vast industrial base to adopt technology and other modern practices in the search for competitiveness and profitability. It is aimed at the needs of Illinois' small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

The first report listed here (which is 43 pages in length) describes the plan in some detail. For instance, in the section on market segmentation the plan calls for information to be collected on the kinds of industry that are making use of new technologies and what types of programs would be useful for each category. A large number of companies want an analysis of technology trends in their industry — a need for which there is no funding available at this time. Other parts of the report cover such issues as market failures, demand-driven technology as the basis for modernization and the public/private partnership that has been created in this state to encourage the use of new technologies.

The second publication (consisting of 153 pages) is a directory of organizations that will provide assistance and information to companies interested in technological innovations.

•Rural Revitalization: State and Local Initiatives, Governor's Rural Affairs Council, 612 Stratton Building, Springfield 62706 (January 1994), 34 pp.

Leaders in rural areas have come to realize that the economic needs of their communities will best be met by initiatives undertaken at the local level. The programs as well as the seven recommendations contained in this report reflect that view. For instance, under the heading "Rural Businesses Must be Encouraged to Adopt New Technologies" the report lists a program that provided funding to a business in Beardstown for the purpose of upgrading equipment and modernizing processes; it also suggests that rural businesses must adopt new technologies in the future to improve the quality of their products to compete with producers in more metropolitan environments. Similarly, in a section on telecommunications advances, the report cites a telecommunications link that has been established between Western Illinois University and the Springfield School District allowing for direct instruction as well as facilitating the education of prospective teachers. In the same section the report recommends a five- to 10- year plan for the development of a statewide telecommunications network that would be available to government, business, education and health care. The report was prepared with the assistance of the Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, Macomb.

Anna J. Merritt

December 1994 / Illinois Issues / 19