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Salaries in the high technology segment of industry average $16,000 a year more than those of other industrial workers in the state. That's why an initiative in the Kentucky New Economy is targeting the segment for expansion.
If the program succeeds, it will be a start toward improving the quality of life in the state, Jim Graham, director of the University of Louisville Information Technology Resource Center, said at a workshop Tuesday morning at the Paducah Information Age Park Resource Center.
Graham said an analysis of industrial "clusters" statewide found that two-thirds of companies are locally based, have local customers and pay workers an average of $26,000 annually - just under the state's average per capita income. The other third, composed of "knowledge-based" companies, pays an average of $42,000, he said.
Even though the $42,000 salary is still about $8,000 lower than that of high-tech counterparts worldwide, Graham said, "This is where innovation is, where growth comes and where wealth is created."
Graham has worked for a year helping New Economy Commissioner Bill Brundage roll out his program, which Gov. Paul Patton's administration established to help start and expand firms with innovative ideas. He replaced Brundage as the speaker at the economic development conference because Brundage was ill.
About 50 people attended the workshop to learn more about Internet business tools and strategies to help them get into the New Economy mainstream.
A fund of $10 million in state money and $20 million from a venture capital company is being created to help 10 to 15 companies get started during the first year. Centers are being established in four regions statewide to help incubate and commercialize ideas. Western Kentucky's center will be at Murray State University with satellite offices in Paducah, Henderson, Hopkinsville and Madisonville.
Rep. Buddy Buckingham of Murray, head of a regional New Economy task force, said he expects to hire a director for the Murray center after July 1, when more funds are expected in the state's new fiscal budget. "We're probably going to be using some temporary housing until the building is built early next year."
Buckingham said the first move will be to hire a director for the Western Kentucky Energy/Environmental Research Consortium, designed to take better economic advantage of the Paducah-area nuclear industry and the region's coal resources. The consortium includes the Tennessee Valley Authority, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Murray State and the vocational-technical colleges.
A $400,000 state grant, matched by $400,000 from other sources, will be used to hire a staff and organize the consortium, which Buckingham said will start with Paducah as its base. The group will seek research grants from private and public sources. b |
