(Columbia) -- Governor David M. Beasley today unveiled four major goals to help South Carolina continue its economic momentum by focusing on the needs of high technology companies.
“High tech is indeed high wage, and we want more of it,” Governor Beasley said.
The Governor and Commerce Secretary Robert V. Royall also announced the formation of the South Carolina Technology Alliance to assist in that effort.
“We have just begun an exciting journey that will make us the envy of other states. The vision, the four goals, and the formation of the Technology Alliance give us the foundation. Now we need to build a palace on the foundation,” the Governor said. “Our record in recent years shows that anything is possible.”
The goals announced by the Governor today are:

1. The development of a Special Schools-style program to train workers for high tech industry. The Technology Alliance will work with technical colleges and universities to develop the program.
2. Targeting state, federal, and industry dollars to help universities with research that is focused on developing the workforce for high tech industry.
3. A coordinated effort with the Governor’s Technology Advisory Council to align higher education and training programs with technology-intensive industry.
4. The Department of Commerce and the Department of Revenue, working with the Technology Alliance, will recommend changes to tax policies to spur the growth and creation of information technology businesses.

The Alliance is a 13-member board comprised of presidents of the
state's universities, major high tech industries and business leaders.
The Technology Alliance will further strengthen South Carolina's efforts
to recruit more technology intensive industries. The Alliance will also help make the state grow its own high tech industries as the economy continues to develop.
Nearly 8 percent of South Carolina's workforce is employed in high technology industries, a percentage virtually identical to the national average.
Governor Beasley and the Department of Commerce have focused on high technology businesses because they grow at a rate about four times the national average for all industries and have wage and salary rates that are well above the
national average.
"The creation of the Technology Alliance represents a milestone for our
strategic plan. South Carolina now has an alliance to assist in
recruiting and preparing for technology intensive industries that bring
with them exceptional training, better salaries and greater economic
adaptability," Secretary of Commerce Royall said.  "South Carolina will
gain more than better jobs; we will also have a stronger state economy
because of it."
Computer programming jobs, for example, typically pay 51 percent higher
than the average national manufacturing wage, according to the federal
wage survey.
"Our state is like a 500 MHz Intel processor. We're fast. We're hot.
We're open for business.  And we're ready for other high tech
businesses. When we fully implement our technology goals and objectives,
we will be the state to watch," said Thomas E. Persons, Sr., President
and CEO of the South Carolina Technology Alliance.
South Carolina has targeted technology intensive industries in the
electronics, software, telecommunications, technology intensive
manufacturing, engineering and research and development.
The state's economic strategy, Approaching 2000, called for a dedicated
technology plan. The Technology Advisory Council was formed by Governor Beasley to examine how South Carolina could attract technology-intensive companies,
find strategies to promote high technology jobs and identify specific
technologies that are important for other industries.  The Technology
Alliance will carry out that plan.
The Governor has appointed Dr. Larry Druffel, president and director of
the South Carolina Research Authority, as the council's chairman.
Under Governor Beasley, South Carolina has set records for capital investment – averaging $5.5 billion each of the first three years of the Governor’s term. The state was recently ranked No. 1 in job creation, and unemployment is at an all-time low.

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Note: A copy of the Governor’s remarks accompanies this release.
 

Remarks By Governor David M. Beasley
Technology Council News Conference
October 7, 1998
Note:  The Governor sometimes deviates from text.

“South Carolina has become a leader in attracting capital investment and creating new jobs.  That gives us a solid foundation to build on.  But it is not going to be sufficient to keep us competitive as we move into the 21st century.  We are looking to generate more technology-based, high-wage, high-performance jobs that have long-term staying power in a global economy.”

Those words may be familiar to some of you.  I said them at the first meeting of my Technology Advisory Council.
I don’t make a habit of quoting myself, but I want to emphasize two things today.  First, we’ve rewritten the record book for economic development, and we can all be proud of those achievements.

Second, we cannot rest.  And we cannot simply continue on the same path, even though it’s a path of progress.

This progress is no accident.  It was carefully orchestrated through a strategic planning effort led by my office, Bob Royall, and the Department of Commerce.  We are now poised to go to the next step.

But even as we talk about technology, we can never forget that this is about people…South Carolinians…people who aspire to jobs that fully challenge them and reward them.

We already have a solid base of technology businesses that can fuel our growth.  The 127,000 South Carolinians who work for technology-intensive industries earn $38,400 per year—a figure that far exceeds the national average income.

In fact, our high-tech employers pay average wage-and-salary rates that are 50 percent higher than the average in all other industries.

High tech is indeed high wage, and we want more of it.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Larry Druffel and the many business and education leaders who gave their valuable time to the state, South Carolina now has a strategy for technology business development.

Our technology strategy brings all of the core resources together.  It starts with the technology workforce…education and training.

We know that 80 percent of the workers that will be employed eight years from now are already in the labor force.

Consequently, we must look for ways to provide life-long learning opportunities that help upgrade the skills of our current workforce.

In addition, our new strategy looks at business climate issues and how we help high-tech companies start up, locate and grow.

Finally, it looks at research university “centers of excellence” that link with our present and desire