Spokane New Economy Summit

The Spokane New Economy Summit

April 5th and 6th

Friday- Gonzaga University Jepson Center

Saturday- EWU Phase 1 Building

Hello Spokane Entrepreneurs,

I wanted to tell you all about an event that is happening this weekend.

The Spokane New Economy Summit seeks to promote ideas and strategies for a stronger and more sustainable regional economy and to catalyze support for action.

The Inland Northwest is as an idyllic place to live and work. This reality is being slowly discovered by those outside the area, and we find ourselves on the verge of an economic revitalization. The time is now to prioritize a triple bottom line of profit, people and planet in order to ensure that future development will be lasting and equitable. Many in our community already recognize the value of these key concepts and are putting them into practice. We seek to bring together students, small business owners, farmers, and community members to discuss new ways of thinking about and participating in our economy.  We hope to facilitate discussions on topics ranging from sustainable agriculture to community banking to economics education; and to create space for networking, collaborating, and building momentum towards a more prosperous, inclusive, and resilient Spokane.

Join us on April 5th and 6th to take part in shaping the future! For more information and to register, go to InwNewEconomy.com.

On Saturday afternoon at 2pm, I will be hosting a pitch contest with Cash Prizes.

We will be giving:

$1000 for 1st place

$500 for 2nd place

$250 for 3rd place

The Rules of the Game

Times:

• Each pitch shall be a maximum of 5 minutes long. The time keeper will cut each pitcher off at exactly 5 minutes.

• There shall be a maximum of 10 minutes for the pitcher and the audience to discuss the idea after the pitch is complete. The time keeper shall allow the pitcher enough time to comfortably answer the last question when the time is finished.

Judging criteria:

• Sustainability: The business idea will be judge on its sustainability

• Community Development: The business idea will be based on the good it would do for the community around it.

• Based in Place: The business idea will be judged on how well it leverages the current assets

available in the target community.

• Triple Bottom Line Profit Standard. The business idea will be judged based on its profit potential. Profits will be defined by the “Triple Bottom Line” philosophy: societal profit, environmental profit, and financial profit.

The pitcher shall use no electronic media devices.

If you have any questions, contact Reed Jessen

Reed.Jessen@gmail.com

(509)768-2677

Regional interdependence brings opportunity for innovation

It’s been said that with great struggle comes great opportunity.

According to Public Management, our current economic strategists are following this “glass half-full” anthem, and creating new approaches to overcome the lack of industrial expansion that has threatened each citizen’s livelihood in the past few years. Innovative new pathways, including talent development and utilization, are promoting growth and opportunity.

“What had been an almost exclusive focus on marketing and industrial recruitment is being augmented by approaches that emphasize homegrown sources of economic activity—efforts that develop entrepreneurial skills, creativity and talent, and promote innovation,” Public Management wrote.

Economic emphasis is now being reorganized to focus on the development of trades and skills that will contribute to the health of each region. This, in turn, will create employment opportunities for those looking to try their hand at a new, highly-specialized occupation.

Additionally, continued globalization is furthering the process of state, local, and regional interdependence. Reliance upon one another is becoming vital to survival and good for business. A high-level of community knowledge and skills ensures a healthy, thriving and stable economy that can equally support economic expansion of the others.

Boat builders in Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Wash. are a great example of the partnership potential. The region’s consortium of welded-aluminum jet boat manufacturers has formed the Snake River Boat Builders Export Program to develop viable foreign markets.

Regional performance, according to Public Management, is no longer based solely on company recruitment and populated commercial buildings. Under the “half-full” methodology, communities that collectively embrace varying skill sets and innovative occupational possibilities have a lot clearer outlook.

Idaho companies combine efforts for better results

A leading Moscow bio-tech startup company has proven once again that “two is better than one.”
BioTracking LLC, a leader in the livestock pregnancy-testing realm, has recently joined forces with GoNano Technologies, also of Moscow, Idaho, to create more sensitive pregnancy tests for livestock.

“The more we know and the quicker we know it, the better we can manage,” said Idaho Cattle Association President Wyatt Prescott in the Idaho Business Review.

According to the Review, The Nanospring material that BioTracking is working with was invented at The University of Idaho and is being developed by spin-off company GoNano Technologies. The company received money from product-development giant 3M earlier this year to further develop the product.

Essentially, this innovative technology could lead to pregnancy detection up to eight days sooner – as well as indicate monumental economic steps for surrounding business, UI and the community.

“Helping the community to grow economically is important to the university. One of the missions of a land grant university is to help the public,” Dr. Jack McIver, UI vice president of research said in the Idaho Business Review. “We are working this area very hard.”

North Idaho recruit Titan Spring featured on Invest Northwest

Titan Spring, a manufacturer primarily supplying the aerospace industry, relocated to Hayden, Idaho from Southern California. The company sought improvements to the bottom line and quality of life for its employers and found both when it made the move four years ago, Jim Glenn, the company’s president said on KHQ-TV’s “Invest Northwest” program.

Technology allowed Titan Spring to move even though much of its customer base remains in Southern California. Glenn said the company traded traffic congestion, a high cost of living and troubling business climate for a great quality of life, reduced operational costs and welcoming business environment.

“Up here they love you,” Glenn said of the community. “In California they hate you. You’re a business, you’re all things evil associated with a business person. We’re welcomed with open arms here, and people can’t do enough for you.”

View the rest of Glenn’s comments here and watch Paul Kimmell of the Inland Northwest Economic Alliance discuss the region’s economic prospects on “Invest Northwest.”

Talking economic outlook on KKZZ radio in S. Calif.

California has become a tough place to do business. State government is a mess, pension funds are out of control, and worker's compensation costs are sky high.

It's true that those conditions may be a little more common given today's economy. The problem is California's been this way for 25 years. They simply can't seem to get their act together to run the state.

You start running the numbers and it does not take long for businesses to figure out they can save a lot of money by leaving California. I recently had a chance to discuss the challenges facing the state's business and opportunities they are finding elsewhere with Ron Tunick, a Southern California-based business coach and host of the radio program, "The Business of Life."

We talked about the benefits to small- or medium-sized businesses of looking out of state to escape the high cost of California and burden of its high-tax structure. Businesses considering relocation or expansion weigh many factors, looking for such things as:

• A stable, favorable tax structure, both business and personal, to minimize impacts on the company and the employees that follow


• Low-cost electrict utility rates


• Lower worker's compensation rates


• Low unemployment rate, such as what exists in Idaho

Tunick spoke favorably about Spokane, Wash. as a place for businesses to consider, calling the city "one of the hidden gems" and its airport "one of the best airports in the country." He is also a big booster of northern Idaho as a place to visit and work. You can access the complete podcast here.

Site selection can be a lengthy process

Selecting a location for relocation or expansion is an investment of significant time and an exercise in patience. Evaluating options requires culling large amounts of information and evaluating that data to arrive at a decision.

Most businesses consider real estate options, workforce quality and availability, training, and business climate among other factors. They weigh those factors against other communities that meet their geographic, transportation and other needs to select the best option. That process can take years of careful evaluation from start to finish.

Payoff comes when companies find the site selection sweet spot. Global Future Energy Holdings, Inc. recently announced that Spokane Valley, Wash. will become the site of its first U.S. manufacturing and distribution facility. The company began looking for a site in 2005.

Spokane Valley “stood out as an ideal location due to available sites, a strong workforce” and a partnership opportunity with another local company, Marius de Mos, the company’s president and CEO, said in a news release. GFEH, which will do business as Prestyl in Spokane Valley, met its expansion needs on multiple fronts. Those kind of synergies are what seal site selection deals.

Prestyl has developed a proprietary infrared, thin-film heating technology. The technology, common in aerospace and mass transportation applications, will be used to produce infrared heating panels that can be mounted to ceilings and walls. Ecolite Manufacturing, a Spokane Valley company that engaged Prestyl during its site search, and will be a partner in manufacturing the panels.

“This project has been exciting and unique in that it provides a multi-faceted win for our organization and the greater community – incorporating elements of business recruitment, business expansion and foreign direct investment,” said Gary Mallon, technology industry manager for Greater Spokane Incorporated, which recruited Prestyl.

Nurturing industry clusters beneficial to business

A supportive business environment is crucial to success, especially when it includes a group of like companies willing to set aside competition for the benefit of local industry. Manufacturers, as an example, benefit from clustering in an area. Grouping in a close proximity creates a critical mass and economies of scale that draw suppliers and bolster a workforce. Benefits include improved cost and quality controls.

It can also lead to leveraged marketing opportunities, as is the case in the northern Idaho and eastern Washington communities that share the Snake River and a growing boat building industry as a common link.

Six welded-aluminum jet boat manufacturers from Lewiston and Orofino, Idaho and Clarkston, Wash. have formed a joint marketing effort under the umbrella of the Snake River Boat Builders Export Program. The idea is to use their collective resources to draw global attention to their capabilities and products and develop viable foreign markets. And, of course, drive sales.

The group recently participated in the 42nd boot Dusseldorf, dubbed the “world’s biggest water sports show.” The show provided hands-on training for the boat manufacturers, contacts with potential buyers, a chance to see new ideas and technologies, and global industry perspective.

It was the return engagement to a European trade mission delegation that visited the Snake River Boat Builders last year. The group toured factories, tested boats and became the focus of the first annual Snake River Boat Expo.

Companies turning to programs that support business growth

Access to business incubators and other resources that support business development is an important consideration for any company. Such organizations and programs are valuable sources of grant money, knowledge, low-cost space and other benefits.

In the case of grant funding, the money can be used to jump start production that leads to increased revenues and creates jobs. The Sirti Foundation, which helps business-assistance agency Sirti to accelerate growth of technology-based companies in the Inland Northwest, is one such example. The privately funded tax-exempt entity recently awarded $1.5 million from its Energy Innovation Fund to:

• Demand Energy, which is developing distributed electricity storage devices and network management software
• Great Northern Spokane for a geothermal heat pump demonstration project
• Greenwood Clean Energy in support of enhancing EPA-approved biomass boiler manufacturing
• NuElement, Inc., a company commercializing bio-aviation, fuel battery extender auxiliary power unit
• WISErg Corporation, which is using an anaerobic digester to derive bioresources from municipal organic compostable materials

Sirti, an agency of the state of Washington, is a collaboration of business, higher education and government to accelerate the development and growth of technology-based companies in the Inland Northwest.

Manufacturing rallies in Spokane County

Manufacturing, a legacy industry in so many parts of the country, has been forced to reinvent its business model like so many others to stay competitive. Areas with inexpensive electricity rates, excellent infrastructure/transportation systems, strong regional workforces and favorable tax structures have emerged as major beneficiaries.

For those same reasons, the advanced manufacturing sector is on-the-grow in Spokane County, Wash. Employment increased 18 percent in the sector in during 2010, including more than 1,100 new jobs in the third quarter. The majority of advanced manufacturing firms – those working in chemical, composites, metal, energy and aerospace – employ 20-100 people.

Retaining strong companies important priority

Taking care of prospering companies is every bit as important as recruiting the next big thing, especially in these days of a “new normal” economy. Regions that can package affordable and available real estate, a talented workforce, and a reasonable regulatory environment in a supportive business climate have a leg up on their competition.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) has found that in the Inland Northwest. The homegrown power protection industry leader is growing in its own backyard. Work is underway on a new 105,800-square-foot, mixed-use engineering office and manufacturing facility in Lewiston, Idaho. The site-cast concrete tilt-up building is being constructed on 25 acres in the Lewiston Business Technology Park, just across the state line from SEL’s corporate headquarters in Pullman, Wash. SEL is also planning a new 70,000-square-foot Solution Delivery Center in Pullman. The three-story building will include six customer-training rooms, conference rooms and engineering and research space.

SEL, which creates products that minimize blackouts and electrical damage, is part of a major federal Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. The company benefits from its proximity to Washington State University and the University of Idaho, located eight miles apart in Pullman and Lewiston, respectively. Both have strong engineering schools, and WSU graduates have been ranked by the Wall Street Journal among the Top 25 most sought after by corporate recruiters.

Talking about California's economy on "The Business of Life" radio show

Business consultant and radio personality Ron Tunick recently invited me on as a guest of his show, “The Business of Life” in Ventura, Calif. We discussed that state’s economic challenges and their impact on small business. Tunick offered several thoughts about California (“Our economy is in real trouble”), Idaho (“If I had to go to one place, it’d be Hayden Lake, Idaho. God lives there, am I wrong about that?), and Washington (On Spokane: “You talk about a sleeper city in this country where there’s great opportunity and a great workforce. And, for $250,000, you can buy all the home you want.”)

During the 30 minute interview, topics ranged from the disparity in tax structures and state budget troubles to commute times and air transportation. We touched on business considerations specific to small manufacturers. Tunick offered that California needs to get better business retention efforts, before concluding that under current economic conditions: “If you own a business get out of here get up there” to Washington and Idaho. You can listen to the interview here.

Many issues affecting California businesses

In 20-plus years of recruiting companies in California, times have never been worse in that state. Workers compensation costs are skyrocketing again. The state pension fund is not sustainable and in serious trouble. Companies are struggling, especially in the aerospace industry. The situation is really out of control.

That kind of instability is difficult on companies in the best of times. Against the backdrop of broader economic struggles it can be devastating, which has companies considering their options. Watch this interview for more about the California business climate.

VIDEO: Bob Potter discusses Southern California’s business climate

Southern California companies concerned about the state business climate have taken a conservation approach with their capital until the economy improves. While businesses wait, they are watching the state wrestle with questions about how to fund its massive pension fund and balance the budget. The state’s tax structure, regulatory issues, and workers compensation remain ongoing concerns regardless of economic conditions. Learn more about what Southern California companies are saying in this interview.