WASHINGTON STATE INNOVATION ZONES

AT ISSUE
As part of Governor Gregoire’s Next Washington plan, she has proposed the identification and funding of potential Innovation Zones to keep Washington competitive in the global market place.  One such Innovation Zone exists in the research nexus created by the proximity and cooperation of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and WSU-Tri-Cities, which was recently expanded to a four-year University. The Governor’s Administration is seeking legislative support and funding for the development of Innovation Zones across the state.

TRI CITY LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL POSITION
• Support the creation and funding of Innovation Zones within the Community, Trade and Economic Development budget.

BACKGROUND
There is growing consensus within the economic development community that the traditional focus on cost-based recruitment, through the use of incentives, are unsustainable in a global market place. Due to constitutional restrictions on gifting of public funds, Washington State has always lagged behind other parts of the United States in recruiting cost conscious industries. With focus shifting to innovation growth, the State is poised to take a proactive economic development role, a fact recognized by the Governor. Our community is well positioned to take advantage of this initiative, and should make efforts to support the initiative in the legislature.

A community team, lead by the Port of Benton, created a plan for developing the Tri-Cities Research Park on 100 acres between the PNNL and WSU-TC campuses. If successfully implemented, the research park plan could create a research nexus capable of replacing the community’s Hanford dependant economy. Based on those efforts, the community lead by TRIDEC, prepared a response to the State’s request for proposals on Innovation Zones, outlining to the State what criteria should be used to create an Innovation Zone and where funding could best be placed to spur regional growth. However, to create a successful innovation zone requires the development of a private sector research capability, currently under represented in the community.

As potential Innovation Zones are primarily located in urban and relatively healthy economies, obtaining funding for Innovation Zones will be difficult as it may diminish the current practice of providing funding in impoverished areas. Due to the potential lack of state-wide support, it is imperative that our community and our legislators are firmly behind Innovation Zones as a viable concept for developing the entire state economy.

For more information, contact the Tri Cities Chamber of Commerce.