Research report suggests Arkansas needs more research

The Arkansas Research Alliance released a private study Thursday (April 2) that identifies 9 core growth areas in Arkansas’ emerging knowledge-based economy.

The Battelle report noted that since the late 1970s, Arkansas has not been able to gain new ground in our per capita income because the terms of global competition for good-paying jobs has changed.

“No longer do state and regional economies compete on the basis of costs alone, which underpinned Arkansas’ prior successful economic development focus,” the report noted. “Today, the driving factors in economic competition are the knowledge and skills of a state and region’s workforce and the breadth and quality of its technology base. And this competition in the knowledge economy is not merely among U.S. states and other nations from the developed world. It increasingly is a global competition in which emerging economies, particularly India and China, are focused.”

The Battelle report identified Arkansas’ best options for allocating research dollars — and for tapping future federal funds — is in the areas of:
• Enterprise Systems Computing
• Distributed Energy Network Systems
• Optics and Photonics
• Nano-related Materials and Applications
• Sustainable Agriculture and Bioenergy
• Food Processing and Safety
• Personalized Health Research
• Behavioral Research for Chronic Disease Management
• Obesity and Nutrition

While the report identified these strategic opportunities, it also noted that Arkansas lags behind the national average in university-based research funding.

From 2001 to 2007, university research in the state grew 70% from $141 million to $240 million. This surpassed the U.S. rate of growth (51%), which shows the state has made gains by leveraging research resources like the funding from tobacco settlement dollars.  To keep pace with the latest national average, the Battelle report stated that Arkansas would need to increase university research by $106 million.

That funding would not necessarily have to come exclusively from state dollars, said James Hendren, a board member of Accelerate Arkansas and the Battelle Advisory Council.  Hendren said the state should eye capturing more federal dollars for research in its effort to create more knowledge-based jobs.

The Arkansas Research Alliance, a group pledged to “accelerate economic development and cultivate a vibrant knowledge-based economy in Arkansas” formed in January 2009. In 2007, the Arkansas legislature approved the appropriation of start-up operational funding for the ARA from the state’s general improvement fund, according to a statement from the group. Funding was authorized through the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority.
                      
The ARA is governed by a 15-member board of trustees comprised of five chancellors from Arkansas research universities and 10 CEOs from across the state.