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Shifting into
High Tech
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High-tech
opportunities are growing in Southwestern Illinois with high speed.
By Ann Knef
Rich with resources, Southwestern Illinois is emerging as a technology-based
regional economy. Clusters of information technology consulting
firms are forming, local and regional leaders are courting their
arrival and government is doing its share by pumping funds into
the new economy.
Though some challenges threaten to slow an industry that thrives
on high speed, many elements of a good infrastructure are in place—a
skilled labor force, solid transportation network and adequate research
facilities.
But lack of access to new technologies capable of harnessing and
transmitting enormous amounts of data frustrate some entrepreneurs.
Kevin Sawyer, president of APCI, an Internet Service Provider in
Fairview Heights, believes huge opportunities for information technology
consultants exist in the area.
Sawyer hopes that legislators will work towards encouraging communications
companies to be more responsive to the industry it feeds. In spite
of those challenges, Sawyer is enjoying his field of dreams. In
September 1996, his business model changed from software developer
to local ISP. Within four months APCI gained 500 subscribers and
business continues to grow at a rate of about 1,000 new subscribers
per year. The young company also provides information technology
consulting services.
“I believe we’re on the ground floor of opportunity for a lot of
growth,” Sawyer says. “So many businesses need competent help, but
most small businesses can’t afford their own information or technology
staff. We provide companies with a virtual MIS department.”
In nearby O’Fallon, Ill., in which a considerable number of highly
skilled ex-military personnel from Scott AFB choose to live, city
officials would like to capitalize on one of its most valuable resources.
The city hired a site selection firm, Paragon, to assess the city’s
workforce and attributes and believes results will show that O’Fallon
is a major job exporter. “If that’s the case,” says City Administrator
Craig Owens, “and we confirm that we have a high level of experienced
technicians and management-level people, here then we could exploit
that as a selling point for O’Fallon. We could go ahead and market
ourselves to high-tech businesses.”
Interestingly, the city owns 35 acres of prime real estate on the
northeast quadrant of an interchange under construction on I-64—the
city’s economic lifeline.
“We have the opportunity to be more than just the zoning control
there,” Owens says. “We actually have the ability to determine what
type of development fills that space.”
Owens isn’t concerned about weaknesses in the area’s telecommunications
infrastructure. “Fortunately, it’s a problem that’s fairly easy
to fix. When private sector sees a void they find a way to fill
it.”
With visions of rivaling the industrial revolution’s impact on the
regional economy a century ago through a transition to a technology-based
economy, Jim Pennekamp, executive director of the Leadership Council
of Southwestern Illinois, is keeping watch on the habits of high-tech
businesses. Pennekamp notes that they tend to establish where skilled
labor is plentiful. “The military folks retiring from Scott AFB
have the skills necessary to fill technology jobs and that’s where
they’re gravitating toward,” Pennekamp says. But, he added, in order
to become a regional technology leader, the area’s infrastructure
must support high-quality, high-speed industry needs. In addition,
collaborative efforts to recruit businesses must be made with Missouri
leaders.
“We want to link with the RCGA in promoting the assets of our two-state
area through technology alliance initiatives,” Pennekamp says.
Joe Behnken, executive director of Southwestern Illinois Development
Authority, which helps finance building projects through low interest
industrial revenue bonds, agrees that attracting high-tech businesses
to the region is critical for continued economic viability. He believes
Southwestern Illinois is capable of feeding technology-based businesses
with a highly-skilled labor pool—but that’s just the beginning for
growing the industry.
“We’re going to be exploring what exactly technology companies look
for in site selection, so we can begin targeting companies with
our attributes,” Behnken says, who will be serving on the Leadership
Council’s Technology Committee. Many incentives already are in place
for entrepreneurs to locate in the area, including financial bait
from individual municipalities, as well as HUD’s Empowerment Zone
in East St. Louis and the state’s Illinois Enterprise Zone for businesses
in the American River Bottoms.
Synergy is a word often used when describing the growth of the information
technology industry. Businesses tend to group together, complementing
one another with shared information and sometimes resources. One
such cluster is in a Fairview Heights office park, among which Pyramid
Technology Group, Pass Security, Maverick Technologies and GA Sullivan
are located.
Mark Hinrichs, principal owner of sister companies Pyramid Technology
Group and Pass Security, says proximity to the interstate system
was key to their location and also centralized for clients and employees.
Pyramid, a three-year-old information technology consulting group,
targets small and mid-size businesses. Having grown substantially
in the last year, from five employees to 22, business is expected
to triple this year.
“We’ve become an outstanding solution for the companies we serve,”
Hinrichs says. “Big businesses have been able to jump on the bandwagon
of the technical revolution. But the smaller businesses really feel
the pinch. They need to be aware of the efficiencies available to
them.”
Generally, private sector performs more efficiently than publicly-owned
operations. However, government is an important catalyst for new
enterprise. The federally and state-funded National Corn-to-Ethanol
Research Pilot Plant, located at Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville’s
University Park, will be a leading facility among a cluster of research
and technology businesses at the park. Construction of the $20 million
world’s first corn ethanol research plant—which could develop technologies
that would reduce the cost of converting corn to ethanol—will begin
in July and finish at the end of 2002.
Brian Donnelly, executive director of University Park, says the
research park, which hosts other communications and engineering
firms, will prove to be a perfect location for high-tech companies.
“The Metro-East was an industrial engine 100 years ago,” Donnelly
says. As more research and technology jobs become available in Southwestern
Illinois, he believes “we could return to that same dynamic in the
next decade.”
If Southwestern Illinois hopes to rise as a top contender in the
high-tech industry, infrastructure improvements will continue to
be a challenge.
Brian Reardon, a spokesperson for Illinois Department of Commerce
and Community Affairs, says Illinois VentureTech—a five-year $1.9
billion initiative approved last spring—could mean substantial dividends
for the area. The program calls for investment in education and
advanced research and development, health sciences and biotechnology
and leading-edge information technology programs. Included in the
overall plan is a four-year $20 million marketing campaign that
will encourage technology businesses to relocate to Illinois.
But Reardon says that even though the state has committed substantially
to growing its information technology industry, Illinois remains
a diverse economy.
“Illinois is a diverse economy with strengths in manufacturing,
agriculture and bio-technology,” he says. “(With Illinois VentureTech)
we’re building on existing strengths. There is no one single dominant
economic force.”
Anne Knef is a Southwestern Illinois-based free-lance writer.
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