YOUNGSTOWN Tech growth panel to visit

\The 17-member state high-technology panel includes two Valley state legislators.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A state committee examining how to develop and retain high-technology businesses will visit the Mahoning Valley next week.
The 17-member High Technology Start-up Business Committee will hear testimony from local high-tech businesses during the Oct. 12 meeting at Youngstown State University.
Those tentatively scheduled to testify include officials from Cboss Community Network, Altronic Inc., Esteco Inc., Softek Software International, and Perkins Communications, said Barbara Ewing, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber's vice president of public policy who is helping to organize the local presentation.
"We're going to pound our drum on what we're doing right and that we need an investment in this area from the state," said state Rep. John Boccieri of New Middletown, who serves on the state committee. State Sen. Timothy J. Ryan of Warren, D-32nd, is the only other local member of the panel.
Panel's job: The panel is studying how to retain and attract high-technology start-up businesses, exploring the factors that motivate these businesses when it comes to location, and analyzing the overall impact of these businesses on economic development and small businesses.
The panel has traveled to Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati collecting information and hearing testimony on this issue in preparation for a report to state lawmakers. The report is due March 1.
High-tech businesses include biomedical research, telecommunications, computer software, communications equipment, the Internet and related fields. There are about 150,000 high-tech industry jobs in Ohio and about 5.3 million high-tech jobs nationally, according to an industry report.
Although Ohio has the 7th largest economy of any state in the country, it lags behind in high-tech development, placing 24th in the nation, said Ewing and Boccieri, D-57th.
"We have not seen the same type of job growth in this field that the rest of the country has," Ewing said. "The state's economy is still tied to old manufacturing. We're still a traditional economy and those businesses are not adding jobs."
The Valley has some small pockets of high-tech growth including the Youngstown Business Incubator, and local business leaders want to point that out to the state committee during next week's visit, Ewing said.
Local business leaders want the state committee to look at the entire state, and not just the largest cities, when it comes to investing money to promote high-tech companies, she said.
skolnick@vindy.com