Great Basin lassoing hi-tech companies
by Ryan Randazzo, Outpost staff
 IGo takes Nevada in the direction of high technology Photo by Chris Maund |
Reno residents will be as likely to work at high technology jobs as they will a casino or mine if local planners have their way.
Business and civic leaders are trying to overcome obstacles like Reno's negative image and small work force to attract technology-based industry to the area and diversify the local economy.
"Technology should be one of our primary industries, period," said Michael Graham, development director for the business school at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The task of bringing in new companies has not been easy with the small number of successful technology-based business here coupled with the common perception of Reno as a strictly gaming town.
An Alliance is Formed
The College of Business at UNR is working with the TechAlliance@NewNevada, formed early 1999, to help produce a work force for businesses planning to operate in Reno. The alliance of local executives from technology-based businesses and university officials was formed to promote the development of resources for emerging technology-based companies. The alliance works with local groups like the Reno/Sparks Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) to locate potential new businesses and get them the resources they need to relocate.
"We try to provide support and solutions for companies interested in coming here," said Dick Bostdorff, chairman of TechAlliance and a vice president at Nevada Bell. "We realized there were some high-tech companies in town and the support they need wasn't there."
The TechAlliance and its supporters have their work cut out for them. Nevada is ranked 43rd in the nation for high-tech employment, according to a survey by the American Electronics Association. The list of successful technology-based industry in Reno includes:
Shifting State Industries
The Reno area has been growing steadily for the past 10 years at a rate of 2 percent to 2.5 percent per year, said Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce CEO Harry York. The growth has been mostly in retail sales, not technology.
Between September and October of this year, more than 1,000 new jobs were created in retail in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Expecting the area to continue growing through the next century, officials want to promote high quality growth.
"High quality growth is good paying jobs, good community responsibility, companies that realize and make a contribution to the community not just come in and take from it," said Chuck Alvey, president of EDAWN.
Bringing technology to the area can also help the economy. For the economy to be stable, it is important to rely on an industry other than gaming and mining.
"If you look at where the two (gaming and mining) are heading, we don't have a choice," Graham said.
Last year 1,420 fewer people were employed by the mining industry in the state during 1998 than the year before, according to the Nevada Mining Association. A worldwide drop in the price of gold was mostly to blame. The price drop may continue to be a problem for the industry by hampering the development of more mines.
Gaming has its troubles here too. Gaming revenues have increased in Washoe County and South Lake Tahoe during the past three years, but not as much as in Clark County, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Competition from casinos on Native American reservations in California and other states may soon present a threat to local gaming revenue, officials say.
Despite the many jobs and financing to the community provided through gaming taxes, local officials want something to fall back on.
"There is nothing to take its (gaming) place," Alvey said. "It is like steel in Pittsburgh or oil in Texas or Oklahoma. That is what we are trying to avoid."
With the proliferation of gaming in Native American casinos around the country, the reality of losing gaming as a distinct feature of the area has begun to settle with locals.
"You can live and die by a single industry," Graham said. "When you are tied to one industry, you are tied to its economic upturns and downturns. People in northern Nevada are very in favor of diversifying industry."
Technology-based industry fits the description of quality growth perfectly while adding to the diversity of the local economy. Technology jobs tend to offer high pay and contribute to the community all without polluting the local environment in most cases.
University Steps In
Involving the university in its quest to draw technology-based business to Reno has been an important step for the TechAlliance.
"Companies feel more comfortable dealing with us; we have no agenda," Graham said. "The university setting gives impartiality to the process of attracting new business."
Involving the university may add impartiality to the process, but the university has the bigger job of filling the demand for technology-literate graduates to work at local businesses. This has been a difficult task, Graham said, because many graduates move to the Bay area where the pay is higher.
"It is not that we are not providing enough students, it is that the students are not staying in Nevada," he said. "Most of the recruiters that come to the college of business are big corporations, and not all of them maintain a presence here in Nevada."
The problem of providing technology-literate graduates may soon start to change. Enrollment in the business school went up 17 percent this year Graham said. Most of the growth has been freshmen, so beginning in 2004 a much larger talent pool should exist for local employers to pick from.
Despite problems with retaining a work force, businesses looking to relocate can take advantage of many opportunities in Reno. EDAWN lists incentives such as the fact that Nevada lacks seven major taxes, including corporate and personal income tax. Also important when attracting new business are Nevada's freeport laws, right-to-work state laws, tax abatement laws and foreign trade zone status.
Stiff Competition
But these and other incentives often are still not enough to lure business to Reno over other locations across the nation.
"Some states are giving away free land or cash to incoming businesses, some of them are more competitive," Alvey said. "Minnesota pays $1,000 per new employee. I can't compete with that."
Other things prevent businesses from relocating here. The gaming industry and small size of Reno create an image problem for potential business.
"Often a CEO or a CEO's significant other has a problem with the place," Alvey said.
The image problem can be solved by getting people interested in the area to come out and visit to get a better feel for what Reno has to offer, Alvey said. Once people realize some of the amenities like the Philharmonic Orchestra, decent schools and lots of natural beauty, they are more likely to make the move.
"Most people when they get here find what we have is pretty dog-gone good," Alvey said. "They find there is a lot here."
Maintaining the high quality of life and even improving on it is important not only to EDAWN but many other local groups as well.
A Plan for the Future
The One Region One Vision is a vision statement written July 1999 by local groups including the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency " to define the future of the region in clear, dynamic, achievable terms." The purpose of the statement is to give direction to local development for the area served by the Reno Tahoe International Airport. The area will be marked by a "vibrant international business climate" and "superior education," according to the statement.
"We can get a lot done as long as we are all working together and have the same vision," York said.
York is not alone in backing the idea that the area can change yet maintain its best qualities.
"We will be bigger, busier, and hopefully better organized in some aspects," Alvey said. "There will still be open space, the air will still be clean and we will have a more diverse economy."
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