article in the Whakatane Beacon . i would be interested in feedback The Icehouse and any other entrepeneurs. INNOVATION and technology are lifelines that must be clutched to arrest population decline, Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Gerard Casey says. “We believe this district should not only be promoting the creation of jobs through agriculture, horticulture and manufacturing, but also in the high-tech weightless economy,” he submitted to Whakatane District Council during its annual plan hearings. A weightless economy trades knowledge rather than manufactured goods or services. “By enabling and supporting industries that both supplement and move away from traditional ways of creating value, we will encourage those future generations to remain here, and allow this district to prosper,” Mr Casey said. This week he told the Beacon ultra fast broadband would support such growth. Renewable energy technology was another sector where the Eastern Bay should focus. He said while Whakatane was fortunate to hold the sunshine capital title, many chamber members who responded to a survey about what that meant to them responded “so what”. “It’s great having titles, but if we’re doing nothing with them, they’re useless,” Mr Casey said. Measurable gains in terms of business growth and development – additional to tourism – were needed. “We need businesses here based around solar energy and solar innovation,” he said. “Why aren’t we saying ‘come here and create your innovative renewable energy idea’?” San Francisco had Silicon Valley, so why could Whakatane not have a renewable energy equivalent? “Surely we should talk to United States companies and try to persuade them to come here and engage in innovation.” Mr Casey envisaged something similar to the 17-hectare Waikato Innovation Park, at Ruakura, established to increase capability in the food, ag-bio and agri-tech sectors. This was the sort of growth needed to turn around predictions of declining population caused by the Eastern Bay’s large baby-boomer generation moving into old age and dying in increasingly large numbers. Demographic predictions were based on the past, he said. All it would take would be for Opotiki’s aquaculture project and a few others to take off and a raft of associated business ventures would materialise, turning the district’s fortunes around.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 22:22:25 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015