Loudermilk column: Senate Approves Formulation of Science & Technology Game Plan to Spur Economic Development

 

By state Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville

 

When you think about jobs in the science and technology industry, you might picture cartoon engineer Dilbert with his upturned tie and thick glasses trying in vain to develop gadgets under the watchful eye of his incompetent boss. Or, you might picture Ph.D.s in lab coats pouring liquids from test tubes to beakers.

 

Maybe that's true, to an extent. But when tech companies come to town, they also offer jobs in customer service, in production, in shipping, in sales and, yes, even in management. Post-college graduates find placement in companies to develop new tools for our everyday lives. Tech-school graduates will help put together these innovative products and will help run fiber-optic cable directly to homes and businesses to keep up with ever-faster Internet speed. Advanced users will run help desks and customer service centers. Shipping companies and retail workers will provide these new products to customers.

 

In Georgia, the average job in the technology industry pays $30,000 more than the average non-tech wage. These are the companies we want.

 

Eight states, including nearby Alabama and North Carolina, have developed plans to lure science and technology companies – and to lure the jobs they bring. Georgia has been a technology hub that includes The Centers for Disease Control, massive "carrier hotel" data centers and literally thousands of IT companies. Yet we do not have a Science and Technology Master Plan.

 

This week, the Senate unanimously passed my bill to develop such a plan. When this bill passes the House of Representatives and is signed by the governor, we can and we will ensure that Georgia remains a center of technology and continues to be "The Place" where companies want to start their endeavors.

 

All evidence shows that advances to our economy come from advances in science and technology. After The Great Depression, the automobile and the television helped make the United States a superpower. After the recession in the late 1970s, home computers drove our economy to new levels. After another recession in the early 1990s, the Internet and cell phone technology brought us economic growth that pushed Wall Street to new heights.

 

Those opportunities are out there now. Through partnerships between industry, our technological universities and our state government, the next great technological revolution can start right here in Georgia. Our forthcoming Science and Technology Master Plan will help ensure it.

                                   

Sen. Barry Loudermilk serves as Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee.  He represents the 52^nd Senate District, which includes Floyd County and portions of Bartow and Gordon counties.