Responding to the challenges of fostering regional growth and employment in an increasingly competitive global economy, many U.S. states and regions have developed programs to attract and grow companies as well as attract the talent and resources necessary to develop innovation clusters. These state and regionally based initiatives have a broad range of goals and increasingly include significant resources, often with a sectoral focus and often in partnership with foundations and universities. These are being joined by recent initiatives to coordinate and concentrate investments from a variety of federal agencies that provide significant resources to develop regional centers of innovation, business incubators, and other strategies to encourage entrepreneurship and high-tech development.




Building Hawaii's Innovation Economy: Summary of a Symposium explains the study of selected state and regional programs in order to identify best practices with regard to their goals, structures, instruments, modes of operation, synergies across private and public programs, funding mechanisms and levels, and evaluation efforts. This report reviews selected state and regional efforts to capitalize on federal and state investments in areas of critical national needs. Building Hawaii's Innovation Economy also reviews efforts to strengthen existing industries as well as specific new technology focus areas such as nanotechnology, stem cells, and energy in order to better understand program goals, challenges, and accomplishments.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
I: OVERVIEW
Hawaii's Innovation Strategy
II: PROCEEDINGS
Day 1--Welcome
Opening Remarks--Sen. Daniel K. Inouye
Presentation of the Hawaii Innovation Council Report
Session I: The Global Challenge and the Opportunity for Hawaii
Luncheon Address--Gov. Neil Abercrombie
Session II: Leveraging Federal Programs and Investments for Hawaii
Session III: Small Business, Universities, and Regional Growth
Day 2--Welcome and Introduction
Opening Remarks--Sen. Daniel K. Akaka
Session IV: University of Hawaii's Current Research Strengths and Security and Sustainability: Energy and Agriculture Opportunity
Session V: Medical Opportunities in Hawaii
Session VI: Roundtable - Next Steps for Hawaii
III: APPENDIXES
Appendix A: Agenda
Appendix B: Biographies of Speakers
Appendix C: Participants List
Appendix D: Bibliography